Plastic Surgeons Face Increased Difficulty In Obese Patients

Plastic surgery is a serious choice that must be thought through beforehand. But for a growing segment of the population, there is more than just thinking that needs to be done before going under the knife. These people are obese patients, who may be considered poor candidates for certain elective surgeries. Getting down to a healthier weight before further considering surgery can be the difference between a smooth recovery and painful complications. The problem lies in the increased health risks involved in operating on a person with extreme amounts of excess fat. Studies show that obese patients suffer more than 10 times the complications from plastic surgery than non-obese patients. The most common types of complications are infection and dangerous inflammation. Infections are probably more prevalent, because the immune system is weakened in obese patients, and poor blood circulation slows down the healing process. Also, because their bodies are bigger, the operation is often longer, more intensive and more complicated than on a person who is of a healthy weight. The incisions that need to heal are often larger and therefore take longer and run the risk of higher complications during the healing process. Even if plastic surgeons agree to operate, there are a few types of cosmetic procedures that are not recommended for very overweight people. For example, liposuction is not likely to have much of a noticeable effect. Even if a considerable amount of fat is removed, the person can then collect fat in strange places, giving them an odd appearance. Likewise, breast augmentation is inadvisable as well, because plastic surgeons say the larger bust line can make the person appear even heavier. Because the cures for several obesity-related illnesses involve weight loss, some obese people attempt to better their health quickly via liposuction. The fact that plastic surgeons typically remove far less than 10 pounds of fat during a typical liposuction may put a damper on the possibilities imagined in that miracle cure. Liposuction is designed to contour the body by removing small pockets of fat from select places on the body; it is not meant to be a process for weight loss. In recent years, some researchers have conducted studies centered on the health effects of high-volume liposuction in obese people. In these studies, nearly 10 percent of the patients' body fat can be sucked out. Their health statistics, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, were recorded before and after the procedures. The results showed that weight loss through liposuction proved almost entirely ineffective in improving these health factors and in curing diseases, such as diabetes. Even though it has been proven time and again that weight loss equals better health, the studies found that it is only weight loss through dieting and exercise that produces healthy results. This is probably because liposuction sucks out external surface fat that lies right under the skin. The fat stored deeper within the abdomen and around the vital organs is the kind that causes obesity-related health problems like diabetes and high cholesterol. If better health is the goal in mind, gastric bypass surgery would be much more effective than plastic surgery.