Gynecomastia and Liposuction

I was on The Early Show in New York City last Monday (August 9, 2010) to help correct a common misconception and to announce some news about the world’s most frequently done plastic surgery procedures.

The common misconception:

Many people have the idea that liposuction is a weight loss procedure. Actually, liposuction goes best when you are at, or near, your normal weight. The point of liposuction is not to reduce your weight but to remove bulges that may show through  clothing.

Liposuction is often done in connection with gynecomastia surgery. In most guys, there is some fatty tissue over the main chest muscle, the Pectoralis  major. That can be liposuctioned with good results but the dense, fibrous tissue lying under the nipple must be surgically excised.

Liposuction is also used in another procedure that men like, the Torsoplasty. Once many guys have a flat chest, they eyeball the rest of their torso more critically and decide the flabby stomach and love handles should also go.

(Check out some Torsoplasty and gynecomastia before and after pictures for yourself.)

Liposuction is done on those locations, big time. But only where the fat is what we doctors know as superficial, that is, lying just under the skin.

If you have a rotund pot or beer belly, that fat is too deep down around your internal organs for liposuction and you must remove that on your own – with serious workouts and a reasonable, low calorie diet.

Women most often request liposuction of:

• Thigh bulges
• Love handles
• Flabby upper arms

Now for the news I mentioned: For the first time, the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) has compiled the numbers and types of cosmetic plastic surgeries done worldwide in 2009.

The most popular procedure in the world? You got it, liposuction! It accounts for18.8 percent of all plastic surgery done globally but is second in America. (Breast augmentation is in first place here.)

The world’s most popular procedures two through five are:

• Breast augmentation – 17%
• Upper or lower eyelift – 13.5%
• Nose jobs – 9.4%
• Tummy tuck – 7.3%

Here’s another statistic you might find interesting.

The top 5 nations for performing large numbers of plastic surgery procedures are:

1. United States
2. China
3. Brazil
4. India
5. Mexico.

Here is my interview on WCBS-TV’s “The Early Show”. Go to: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/09/earlyshow/health/main6756741.shtml

Tags: favorite procedures., flat chests, Global surgery, liposuction statistics, looking good, personal surgery, smooth waists, surgery statistics, Top 5s, TV doctors

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 12th, 2010 at 9:03 am and is filed under Other Plastic Surgery Procedures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.