Best Ways to Minimize Liposuction Downtime

Many Americans struggle with extra fat on their bodies, even if they diet and exercise. Liposuction could be the answer when a healthy routine doesn’t eliminate the fat you want.

Liposuction is one of the most popular plastic surgeries, and it can remove stubborn fat pockets on the abdomen, sides, thighs, arms, and more.

Before liposuction, it’s essential to learn more about the procedure, including minimizing liposuction downtime. Please learn more.

Liposuction Overview

There are several types of Chicago liposuction. The most common is tumescent liposuction, which involves injecting lidocaine and epinephrine into the target area to reduce swelling, pain, and bleeding.

Next, the fat and injected fluid are sucked out with a cannula. Tumescent liposuction is popular because the technique usually reduces recovery time and discomfort.

Most patients need to take five to seven days off after liposuction surgery. Intense workouts are off-limits for a few weeks, but it helps to take a daily walk to boost blood circulation.

Final results may take six months to a year to appear, but you should see improvement in the treated area when most initial swelling dissipates.

If the abdomen is treated, the skin should bounce back when the fat is removed and adhere to your new shape. However, if you have loose skin in the abdomen, you may need a Chicago tummy tuck first, followed by liposuction.

Other patients have other surgeries during liposuction, such as a Chicago thigh lift or a Chicago Brazilian butt lift.

How To Recover From Liposuction Faster

There are several things you can do after liposuction to reduce your downtime and get back to your routine:

Eat A Healthy Diet

Eating a proper diet will ensure you have as little downtime from liposuction as possible. Also, patients who eat a healthy diet will have less swelling, which speeds up recovery.

By eating foods rich in vitamins and antioxidants, your body will heal and gain strength faster. You also can speed your recovery by taking these actions before surgery:

• Lower salt intake, which can make your body retain water and increase swelling
• Boost your protein intake to help your incisions health and regrow muscle and skin.
• Reduce your sugar consumption, so you don’t suppress the immune system.
• Eat small meals several times per day to avoid bloating and nausea.
• After surgery, eat foods that help with recovery, such as grapefruit, celery, zucchini, and strawberry.

Stay Active

You should get plenty of rest and sleep for the first one or two days after surgery. But after that, start taking short walks to improve the healing process.

All intense workouts should be avoided for the first three or four weeks. After that, talk to your surgeon about when you can return to your entire workout schedule.

Keep Treated Area Cool

Heat can increase swelling and inflammation after liposuction. You shouldn’t sit in the sun, soak in the tub or go to a sauna during the first month.

But the cold can help. Applying cold compresses or ice to treated areas can reduce swelling and pain after liposuction.

Wear Compression Garment

Your doctor will probably provide you with a compression garment after surgery to reduce swelling and increase circulation. This garment also will help the skin contract over the treated area.

The compression garment should be worn all the time for the first two weeks, other than showering. After three weeks, you may only wear it during the day or leave it on all the time.

Drink Water

Staying hydrated is important so you don’t get dehydrated after surgery. You should drink at least eight glasses to 10 glasses of water per day during your recovery.

To stay hydrated, other liquids you can drink include tea, watered-down fruit juice, and skim milk.

Go To Follow-Up Appointments

Follow-up visits with your surgeon ensure that your progress is going well. It also lets the doctor check how you are healing and recovering. That’s why it’s essential to go to all follow-up appointments with your surgeon.

Don’t Soak

After getting home from surgery, you shouldn’t soak in a tub for a week or two. This can increase the risk of infections with your incisions. Instead, take a brief shower every day.

Try Massage

Research shows lymphatic drainage massage can reduce your recovery time. Plus, this special type of massage reduces discomfort and pain from liposuction.

It also can increase your immune response and lower the chance of infection.

How To Keep Your New Look

After you have liposuction, you want to do everything you can to maintain your results. However, remember that while the removed fat won’t come back, you still can gain weight.

The surgeon left some fat in the treated area that can increase in size if you put on weight. You also can gain weight in other parts of the body.

So, it’s vital to maintain a healthy weight by eating correctly and exercising, or you could need more liposuction in the future.

Eat lean protein, lots of fruits and vegetables, and complex carbohydrates to maintain your new look. You can enjoy your liposuction results and slimmer profile for many years if you do these things.

Liposuction is one of the most popular plastic surgeries, and for a good reason. It offers a safe, effective, and affordable way to eliminate fat in your problem areas.

As long as you follow the recovery tips highlighted in this post, you should be thrilled with your liposuction results.

Request A Liposuction Consultation

Thinking about liposuction surgery in Chicago? Dr. Otto Placik is proud to serve Chicago area patients at his practice. He’ll go over the options, goals, and more to determine if you’re an ideal candidate for liposuction.

References

Liposuction Recovery. (n.d.). Accessed at https://www.plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures/liposuction/recovery

What To Expect After Liposuction. (n.d.). Accessed at https://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/blog/what-to-expect-after-liposuction

How To Reduce Swelling After Liposuction. (2020). Accessed at https://www.insider.com/how-to-reduce-swelling-after-liposuction