Patient No. 124: What happens when you gain weight after whole body liposuction?

October 27, 2017 / 2 Comments

WARNING: This is a medical blog intended ONLY for medical professionals!!!! This blog contains nudity and graphic images of cosmetic surgeries. If you are offended by nudity and graphic images, or if your religion does not allow you to look at such images or to get cosmetic surgery done on yourself, please leave NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

This case study has been previously published on our YouTube channel. We are re-publishing it again on this Vlog, as the patient now returns to us, 3.5 years after her initial whole body liposuction, as she has gained 8 kg of weight!

This overweight kick-boxer, a young mother of 3 children in her mid-30s, first visited Dr Arthur Tjandra of Elixir de Vie 3.5 years ago, for abdominal liposuction. Because of significant abdominal muscle splitting (rectus diastasis) from 3 previous pregnancies, Dr Arthur Tjandra of Elixir de Vie recommended a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) with abdominal muscle wall repair. However, she opted for liposuction only. She was warned to be realistic with her expectation, not only because she opted not to have abdominal muscle repair done, but also that she was pretty huge size to begin with. She was grossly overweight. Three months later, she was ecstatic with the result of her abdominal liposuction, and returned for thighs liposuction. Barely 2.5 months after her thighs liposuction, she returned for arms liposuction, as she was simply too delighted to see the result although her thighs had not even fully recovered from the surgery just done 2.5 months ago.

She now returns, more than 3 years after her initial liposuction, to get touch-up liposuction on her arms, because she has gained 8 kg! Why did she gain so much weight? It was because she lost her kick-boxing championship title in her small village in Singapore (Kampong Lorong Buangkok), she became so depressed that she stopped working out and indulge in unhealthy food.

So, what happens when one gains weight after liposuction? One certainly gets fat again! But, as liposuction permanently removes fat from the body, unlike exercise and dieting which only shrink the size of fat cells, one will still retain the shape sculpted during liposuction. As a matter of fact, one will get back the post-liposuction body if one manages to shrink the fat cells through exercise and dieting. But, this patient is too lazy to do it and simply returns to Dr Arthur Tjandra of Elixir de Vie for another liposuction of her arms!