Hips liposuction can help many women whose body contours are asymmetrical due to excessively large deposits of fat on the area of the hips. This is an area that is hard to reduce with exercise and diet alone. The woman with this problem will undoubtedly find it difficult to buy clothing that is becoming to her. Hips liposuction can more or less normalize the hips, along with the outer thighs and buttocks. If these areas are disproportionately large in comparison with the rest of the body, hips liposuction can remove much of the “saddlebags” and bring the lower body into better proportion with the upper body.
Hips liposuction involves the removal of excess fat by the insertion of small cannulae, or stainless steel tubes, into an incision in the body. A powerful vacuum is attached to these tubes, and suctions out the fat. Generally the incisions are very small, only two or three millimeters wide, and are made in a place where the scars will be virtually invisible, such as in the fold of the buttocks.
In the United States, liposuction is the most-performed cosmetic surgery today. And hips liposuction, including the buttocks and thigh areas, is the most popular liposuction of all. It is considered a very safe procedure, and one that has returned many women (and some men) to a much more balanced, youthful appearance. Hips liposuction, like other liposuction, should not be thought of as a treatment for obesity or a method of weight loss. It is a body contouring operation, to reshape the body in association with good exercise and a healthful diet. In hips liposuction, the average patient has approximately five to seven pounds of fat removed.
Elective thigh and hips liposuction procedures are performed with several different techniques. Some of these, like the super-wet method, require a general anesthesia. If your hips liposuction is performed under general anesthesia, you will probably need to stay overnight in the hospital or clinic. You may experience some nausea upon awakening, due to the anesthesia. Other methods of hips liposuction, like the tumescent procedure, inject diluted local anesthesia into the surgical area to numb it, and to make the excess fat easier to remove. In this case, general anesthesia is rarely needed.
Older patients who have been very heavy for a long time may find that hips liposuction leaves them with sagging skin in the area of surgery. This is because their skin has lost its elasticity, and cannot contract or shrink to fit the newly-reduced area. Hips liposuction in such cases may need to be followed at a later time with a procedure to remove the extra inelastic skin.
