Dear Doctor,
I am a 38 year-old female. I have two children aged thirteen and nine. In the last few years I have gained a lot of weight. Although I exercise in the gym regularly, I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I am becoming very frustrated.
I have heard of liposuction but do not know much about it; there seems to be a lot of controversy regarding the subject. Can you please give me some information about procedures available for weight loss?

Dear reader,
Thank you for the question. Weight gain after child birth is normal but if not controlled at that time can lead to excessive weight gain as we usually start giving time to the child and don't look after ourselves.

It's good that you have started to go to the gym, but that alone will not be sufficient. Maintaining a proper diet along with exercise will help you. Usually what we see is that the patient lose some weight but the abdomen is a hard area to slim down. For people with excessive weight there are locations along with the tummy where reshaping becomes difficult. So that's where we come in. You did not mention your weight, there are quiet a few procedures available according to the range of weight.

The first and most important thing to remember is that these are cosmetic surgeries, which will reshape your body, but not reduce your weight. You have to lose the excess weight gained by maintaining your diet and regular exercise but it will be easier as the excess bulging will be gone.

Liposuction is one of the most common cosmetic surgery procedures performed all over the world. Mainly because it's a day surgery and also the patient is up and about in a few days and back to work. In this procedure small holes are made near the area to be treated and a solution is introduced to liquefy the fat. Then the fat is suctioned out from that area.

About 3 to 5 litres of fat can be suctioned out in one sitting. The skin of the treated area will retract after a few weeks so it won't cause a bulge. It's a safe procedure and usually there are no complications. The patient has to use belts or compression garments on that area for about a month.

There will be tenderness in the treated area but that usually is relieved by painkillers. Also some unevenness, bruising and hardness will be there but as the healing process goes on these will all go away. Patient starts to see results in a month or so. This procedure is a very good option for patients who have excess fat and are serious about their exercise and diet. It's possible to do liposuction in many parts of the body like the abdomen, arms, backfolds, thighs, double chin. The area that has been treated does not become fat again as the fatcells from that area is suctioned out. The procedure is a day surgery as there is no hospital stay required in most cases.

For patients who have gained so much weight that their abdomen is hanging over, they will probably need abdominoplasty which is a procedure where the excess fat as well as skin is taken off as doing a liposuction will leave skin that will not retract. In this case the patient has to stay in the hospital for 1 or 2 days. In these cases the patient can see the result immediately as the excess bulge will be gone. The patient can start to do exercise as early as 3 weeks and start diet immediately after the surgery. A nutritionist is usually present to assist the patient.

Then there are those patients who are superobese, for them the answer is gastric sleeve resection or gastric banding. This is mainly for patients who can't control their eating habits. Here the stomach is made smaller by resection or banding as a result the patient's food intake lessens and the patient is bound to lose weight. Once they start to lose weight an abdominoplasty is done to take off the excess skin. This procedure was done to the famous football player Maradona. We all know about his struggle to lose weight. In this procedure the patient needs to stay in the hospital for 7 to 10 days.

All the procedures that I have discussed are successfully being done in our centre, as well as other places. They are safe procedures when done with care and if the patient is serious about losing weight and follows the instructions given. Complications that can occur are the same as any other surgical procedure but seldom happens as adequate care is taken to avoid them. These procedures along with proper diet and exercise help overweight people to reach their goal of becoming lighter and to look better and lead a healthier life.

I hope that I have given you enough basic information about weight.loss procedures. Please contact me if you need to know more.

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