Letty's Liposuction Directory

Abdominals – Sculpted abs, tight abs, fit and toned abs...

Author: Letty's Staff Writer

What is the real difficulty with abdominal fat?

It's everywhere you look these days.

Resistant pockets of abdominal fat plague both men and women around the world. And the reasons for this epidemic are as varied as the individuals themselves.

For women pregnancies, fluctuation hormones, prescription drug side-effects, and depression all can play a part in explaining the growing problem.

For men, a sedentary lifestyle, aging, and poor diet makes abdominal fat ubiquitous in our society today.

Let's talk in-depth about abdominal fat.

To understand what we are up against, you have to delve deeply into human anatomy a little bit.

First, there are two main kinds of abdominal fat.

1. Oomental Fat

   This fat – located in the region of the abdomen – is very internal.

   In fact, it is the fat the coats the internal organs and is extremely metabolically active (that means that it produces many hormones and other compounds that have a biological effect throughout the body). It is important to understand that liposuction CANNOT address oomental fat.

   And guys... this is the fat that can give you diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

2. Superficial Fat

   This fat represents the love-handles, 'muffin tops', etc. that you can grab with your hands (the 'inches' you can physically pinch).

   This fat lives superficially under the skin, and is very visible when we stand naked in-front of the mirror after our morning showers. This fat CAN be treated with liposuction.

   But removing this surface fat isn't going to do anything for your diabetes or other health concerns.

That is really important to note.

Abdominal liposuction will not make you healthier – but it can improve your contour and body-shape.

To reduce the amount of oomental fat that you have requires lifestyle changes (i.e. healthy eating in the right portions, and exercising).

How does liposuction work to solve the problem?

Liposuction helps to diminish the look of a bulging abdomen by removing the excess cutaneous (superficial) fat. Also liposuction of the abdomen helps to re-contour area and provide an improved appearance.

However, liposuction works better for some patients.

For patients with healthy, elastic skin liposuction can be a very useful tool in fine-tuning their appearance. However, for those who have over-stretched abdominal skin along with excessive internal fat, liposuction is not going to be able to adequately or effectively address these concerns.

What are the limits of abdominal liposuction to solve the problem... What's realistic to expect?

So, let's talk about the limits to liposuction of the abdomen.

Perhaps you've just lost more than 45 kg (100+ lbs.) you may be thrilled about your weight loss, but not quite as thrilled with the left-over skin. This excessively hanging skin may require a tummy tuck surgery (also known as "abdominoplasty").

Tummy tuck surgery can remove hanging skin and repair the underlying muscle if necessary. And with proper scar placement, the kind of results that abdominoplasty can achieve go far beyond anything that liposuction will be able to offer as a stand-alone procedure.

Liposuction is also not designed to enter the body's cavity and suction out oomental tissue. Although you may be tired of hearing it – the most effective way to address this kind of obesity is diet and exercise.

So you see – abdominal liposuction is a terrific tool for cosmetic enhancement.

However it is not designed to make deep structural changes to the abdomen, or to remove the internal fat surrounding your organs.

How temporary or permanent is my result?

Okay. Now here's is where we need to offer you a reality check.

If you are the type of person who loves getting something for nothing, then listen up. Liposuction will permanently remove fat cells from the body. Once removed those particular fat cells will be gone forever.

Sounds great right? Woooweee... permanently deleted fat cells!

Okay. Slow down.

Here's the reality check part.

Even though those particular fat cells are permanently removed – the body can and will produce new fat cells in response to excess calories. Did you hear that?.. YOU CAN get flabby again after your expensive liposuction surgery.

If the question is how temporary or permanent are your liposuction results – the answer is: As temporary or permanent as you make it. A proper diet and ongoing exercise will maintain your post-surgical results a lot longer than a fast food diet and sedentary lifestyle will.

What is the take-home here?

Liposuction as a method to achieve an ideal physical appearance in the abdominal region works well for some, and not for others.

Those obese individuals with excessive hanging skin will not be able to turn to liposuction as a way to greatly improve the contour of their waistlines. A combination of a tummy tuck surgery in additional to lifestyles changes may – in fact – be required.

Liposuction works well for people with great skin elasticity, who have only a small to moderate amount of superficial fat in the abdominal region.

If you fall into the latter category of folks - abdominal liposuction may be a great option to improve your bikini-wearing contour.

Abdominal Lipsouction References:

• "Abdominal liposuction does not appear to decrease risk factors for coronary heart disease." Women's Health Activist. Sept.-Oct. 2004: 5. General OneFile (20 Apr. 2011).

• "Abdominoplasty." Stephanie Dionne Sherk, and Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD. The Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery and Medical Tests. Ed. Brigham Narins. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 4 vols.

• Bhargava, Dinesh. "Abdominoplasty today." Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery. vol. 41.3 (2008): 20. Expanded Academic ASAP. Jan 2010.