Director of Cosmetic Surgery,

University of Illinois Chicago

Department  of Dermatology

Oakbrook Center Mall

Oak Brook, Illinois

(630) 928-0240

Jeffrey  Melton, M.D., S.C.,

link to us

drmelton.com

Liposuction is not an effective weight loss treatment.  Liposuction is effective for uneven proportions, that is, when one or several body areas are enlarged with fat deposits out of proportion to the rest of the body. 

While obesity in general is more responsive to diet and exercise, localized fat deposits are less responsive.  But fortunately, tumescent liposuction is effective for treating these localized areas. 

This does not mean that you have to be at your ideal body weight in order to have liposuction.  But liposuction will not decrease your weight; it will only improve the relative proportions of your fat deposits.

For example, if you are somewhat overweight, but your hips are extra large, liposuction can even things out, so that your hips would no longer look so large compared to the rest of you.  But your weight would not change, at least not very much.  The reason for this is that if your caloric intake and expenditure stay the same as before the liposuction, your wieght will still tend to gravitate to the same level; however your fat distribution would be more even, so that fat you gained would go everywhere else but your "trouble areas."