Debunking The Liposuction Scare

Botched liposuction cases have made people nervous about going under the knife.

Super-speciality hospitals and clinics have been flooded with questions about liposuction. Many patients have even postponed their liposuction procedures, stating that they’re under family pressure to re-think their decisions.

Failures Are An Exception

Dr Lakshmi Saleem, Senior Plastic Surgeon, explained, “People have actually become scared. Even those patients who’ve already undergone the operation are coming back to ask if they’ll face sudden death.”

“What happened to Aarti Aggarwal was unfortunate. However, people also need to know that more than 500 liposuction procedures were successfully carried out in the past five years. None of these patients have died. In fact, they’re happily following their profession and are much more confident after their surgeries.”

Myths Are Widely Prevalent

Dr V Sudhakar Prasad, Senior Consultant Plastic and Cosmetic Surgeon at Apollo Hospitals, explained, “People often think that liposuction is a weight loss program; this is a myth and simply not the case. Liposuction is a body contouring procedure that involves reshaping of the thighs, hips, arms, double chin and even the belly. It’s not undertaken on patients who have a body-mass index (BMI) of more than 30.”

Doctors state that those who intend to use liposuction as a weight-loss program mostly end up having a botched procedure.

Dr K S Lakshmi, Senior Bariatric Surgeon, explained, “Often, people look for quick fixes. When a super-speciality hospital gives a list of ifs and buts, such patients opt for smaller unknown clinics to get their operations done. In such episodes, the surgery gets a wrong name whereas it’s the skill or the surgeon that counts the most.”

Despite more than 500 procedures done in Hyderabad and over 600 in Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam, patients are still carrying out health checks, tests and ECGs to ensure that they’re in good health and not suffering from any post-procedure side-effects.