I could have titled this, “things we dream about.” Liposuction makes you thinner AND it is good for you? Come on.
I remember a colleague of mine studied this when we were in residency at Stanford. The study was small, but hinted maybe there was a health benefit. It is an interesting question. If you reduce the fat cell load, will it affect your body in other ways? Will it lower cholesterol? Lower triglycerides? We know when overweight people lose weight, they often show improvement in other ways: blood pressure improves, cholesterol lowers, and diabetes may reverse. So it begs the question: if you remove fat by liposuction will you get the same benefits?
My society, the ASPS (American Society of Plastic Surgery) had our annual meeting in Denver this fall. At it, a new study by Dr. Eric Swanson was presented, showing a dramatic decrease in the triglyceride level of patients following liposuction. He also found a lower white blood cell count, which is thought to be associated with inflammation, and inflammation has been linked to cardiac disease.
This prospective study looked at 322 patients who underwent liposuction and/or tummy tuck (71% were liposuction only). Findings:
- Those with normal triglyceride levels had unchanged levels
- Those with elevated or at risk levels (defined as > 150 mg/dl) had an average of 43% reduction in triglyceride levels after surgery. (this is 2x the amount found when taking medications to do so).
- The effect was found to be similar for men and women
- White blood cells levels decreased by 11%
- Cholesterol level changes were not significant.
What does this mean? It is hard to tell. It is unclear how fat contributes to heart disease. We talk about how intraabdominal fat and the apple shaped person has a higher risk of heart disease. Dr. Swanson suggests these findings show fat which is outside of the belly, the subcutaneous fat, is “just as metabolically important.”
To read more of his study, you can look for it. “Prospective Clinical Study Reveals Significant Reduction in Triglyceride Level and White Cell Count after Liposuction and Abdominoplasty. No Change in Cholesterol Levels,” presented by Dr. Swanson et al at the Denver ASPS meeting, September 2011.