Can Liposuction Make You Healthier?
- Posted on: Oct 4 2011
A new study recently presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has found that liposuction will not only make you thinner, but can also potentially decrease the triglyceride content in your blood.
According to ABC News:
Researchers studied levels of cholesterol and “bad” fats called triglycerides in the blood of more than 300 patients who were undergoing liposuction. Patients who had elevated triglyceride levels before the procedure showed an average 43 percent reduction in their triglyceride levels after they had liposuction.
The patients showed no changes in their cholesterol levels, but researchers did find a post-liposuction reduction in counts of white blood cells, which are associated with heart attacks, obesity, strokes and high blood pressure.
While this is the first study to show any beneficial health effects in removing subcutaneous fat via liposuction, it’s still a stretch to say that the procedure alone makes a person healthier. Recent thinking has correlated fat which cannot be removed via liposuction (a.k.a. visceral or intra-abdominal fat) to a higher risk of heart disease, not subcutaneous fat.
Liposuction is obviously not a substitute for a good diet and regular exercise. It’s primarily meant to treat stubborn areas of fat in people who have a healthy body weight.
Tagged with: fat, heart disease, liposuction, triglycerides
Posted in: Dr. Anthony Youn in the Media, Plastic Surgery News