Newport Beach Plastic Surgery

Today is my first in a series I want to call Urban Myth Busters. I have always wanted to collect a list of the common myths that patients ask me about when they consult with me for cosmetic surgery procedures, and comment on or correct some of the common misconceptions.

Today, I will address the common myths that relate to liposuction, since that was the last blog topic.

Urban Myth #1. “You are born with only a certain number of fat cells, and once they are removed, they are gone for good.”

Reality Check: Fat cells were once thought only to be able to undergo hypertrophy, that is, to grow larger and plumper, stimulated by an increase in circulating fat in the bloodstream. They were not thought to have the ability to multiply. Now we know that if there is enough of a stimulus (like a cheeseburger and fries) fat cells will divide and multiply. So, just because you remove fat cells with liposuction, It doesn’t mean that the treated area will be forever immune to the effects of over-eating.


Urban Myth #2. “If you remove fat cells with liposuction in one spot, you will just gain fat in other areas.”

Reality Check: Similar in concept to Urban Myth #1, Liposuction normally is done to reduce diet-resistant pockets of fat, the ones that often are determined by your DNA(genes-heredity). Once these pockets are reduced, they can still store fat again if they are stimulated to do so by taking in too many calories. The good news is that if you gain weight after liposuction, you will probably gain it more evenly over the entire body rather than in the localized areas that seemed to accumulate fat with weight gain before surgery.

Check out my before and after photos to see first hand what liposuction can do.


Next in the Myth Busters Series will be Myths about Soft Tissue Augmentation and Fat grafting.