Liposuction recovery is uncomfortable for a few people, but in general a person is back to his or her work table in a matter of a week to ten days. The extent of care a person takes in the post-operative phase reflects directly on the pace of the recovery. Pain medications are advised in the first week after surgery and should be discontinued thereafter. Exercises may be resumed after a gap of at least a month post surgery as there is risk of moisture-retained infection and opening of stitches. This being said, you will most likely need help in caring for your child. This is a surgery and your body needs time to recover. You are under medication so you will most likely need to find someone to take care of your child because you will be needing to take care of yourself. Follow your surgeon's post-operative instructions very carefully.

Posted by Jennifer Michaels Patient Advisor to Dr. Siporin

It is extremely important to wear compression garments after liposuction. This is an integral part of the procedure and is critical to achieving the best possible result. First stage garments are worn for the first two weeks. These are high compression garments with reinforced panels and snaps and zippers on the seams. These garments should be worn around the clock except for dressing changes and bathing. These garments control bleeding and bruising immediately after liposuction. Later, they help prevent the development of fluid collections during the following several days. After that, they support and stimulate skin contraction to achieve the new and improved body contour.

Between two and six weeks after liposuction, second stage garments are worn during daytime hours and may be removed at night. These are more comfortable, more practical garments with less compression, that are easier to take off and put on and easier to wear under clothes. Second stage garments should be continued beyond six weeks until swelling has completely resolved and maximal skin contracture has occurred.

When liposuction is performed, the final result is achieved from removing and reshaping fat deposits and from subsequent contraction of the skin around this new body contour. Four months should be long enough to at least come close to reaching the final outcome, although there still may be minor skin contraction during the following few months. Some rippling and loose skin is not uncommon after liposuction of the abdomen, especially in patients with borderline indications for the procedure such as large fat deposits, a lot of excess skin and poor skin quality. Continued use of compression garments may help to further tighten the skin and even out surface irregularities. More than likely, though, the best way to correct this is with a tummy tuck procedure. This could be a mini tummy tuck if the loose skin is located below the belly button only. If the loose skin is also above the belly button, then a full tummy tuck procedure may be needed.

This does not mean that liposuction was the wrong procedure to do in the first place. In many patients, there are indications for both liposuction and tummy tuck. In those cases, one option is to first perform the one procedure that best fits the individual patient and then possibly later perform the other procedure in a second stage to achieve the optimal result. The other alternative is to perform a combined procedure called a lipoabdominoplasty where liposuction of the entire abdomen is done in combination with a mini tummy tuck.