Liposuction Risks

From time to time, a media piece is done about liposuction. Liposuction is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgery in the U.S., So these reports about liposuction risks and safety get a lot of interest and play in the media. It would not of course be interesting for very long to run news stories, articles, or broadcasts titled something like: "liposuction still works."

Much is written about adverse effects of liposuction. Often, the headline for such a piece bears little indication of what the article actually says. Such was the case with a headline "Death by Liposuction" on the cover of a major newsweekly recently.

Headlines are carefully crafted, and they are not necessarily designed to tell the whole story.

This is not to say that surgical complications are not important; they are extremely important. We are always mindful of the risks, looking for ways to decrease risk even further. And we are constantly assessing the balance between risk and benefit for each individual patient undergoing liposuction or any other surgical procedure.

Liposuction risk, or the risk involved in any form of medical treatment is an extremely important issue for the physicians, their staff, and the patient. Sometimes, news reports make it seem as though physicians must not even realize that there are risks in any treatment. However, the concept of risk:benefit ratio is the foundation of all medical decision making.

Certainly it is the case that any surgical procedure carries a certain amount of risk. However, the tumescent liposuction procedure, when performed in appropriate settings, by appropriately trained surgeons, upon patients who are appropriate candidates, has an excellent safety record.

We encourage patients to read beyond the headlines about the safety of liposuction and the risks of liposuction surgery and tumescent liposuction surgery. The information and links below may be helpful as a starting point.

Press release at ASDS "Doctors disagree on the safety of liposuction " is a response to recent news items regarding liposuction safety.

If you have Adobe Acrobat you can download the article: "Does the location of the surgery or the specialty of the physician affect malpractice claims in liposuction?

In case you don't have Acrobat, the study shows:

Fewer malpractice claims when liposuction surgery is done in a doctor's office than when done in a hospital. In fact, the data shows that the rate of malpractice claims settlement is three times more likely when liposuction is done in a hospital.

Although 1/3 of all U.S. liposuction procedures were performed by dermatologists, dermatologists were involved in less than 1% of the claims.

The following aggressive approaches which patients should be aware of when considering treatment and selecting a physician include:

Extracting large amounts of fat
Using general anesthesia in a hospital setting
Performing multiple procedures during the same surgery

This study is significant in that it looks at actual malpractice claims data from the Physicians Insurance Association of America (PIAA), rather than subjective data.

William P. Coleman, III, MD, clinical professor of dermatology at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans and co-author of the study, is quoted in the press release:

"Our study found that liposuction is safest when it is performed as a solo procedure under local (tumescent) anesthesia in an outpatient setting by a board-certified dermatologic surgeon,"

"In fact, our data shows that there have been no deaths from liposuction by dermatologic surgeons, probably because the proper precautions are followed," added Dr. Coleman, president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, which is credited with developing stringent guidelines of care for liposuction surgery."

"Patients deserve to know that liposuction is much safer when using local anesthesia. The favorable safety record of dermatologic liposuction reflects a conservative approach to the procedure and provides a model for training physicians of all specialties,"

1/3 of all U.S. liposuction procedures were performed by dermatologists ,

dermatologists were involved in less than 1% of the claims.

liposuction is safest in an outpatient setting

malpractice claims data

"In fact, our data shows that there have been no deaths from liposuction by dermatologic surgeons..."

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	Jeffrey Melton, M.D., S.C., Chicago and Oakbrook Center Mall, Oak Brook, Illinois (630) 928-0240 www.drmelton.com