Dr. Nathan Miller is a board certified cosmetic surgeon and owner of the OKC Lipo in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Specializing in all forms of liposuction, Dr. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons, American Medical Association, Texas Medical Association, and a prospective member of the American College of Surgeons. Here, he tells us why women of all ages undergo liposuction procedures.
What I specialize in is liposuction, so everyone who comes into the office at OKC Lipo is right off the bat already looking for liposuction. However, what I do tend to see is that women age 25 to 49 are, in general, looking for more of a rejuvenation when they come into the office. And meanwhile, women are over the age of 50 are more likely to come in asking for a complete overhaul of their physique, or physical look, through liposuction.
The way it works is fairly simple. God has only given us a certain amount of elastic property to our skin. So, what happens is as we get older, or gain weight, or lose weight, or as we have babies—and then as those babies grow up and we age—is that the elasticity in the skin slowly goes away.
One of the best ways I can explain the concept of elasticity is by comparing it to your favorite socks. The way your skin loses elasticity is the same way your favorite socks start pooling at your ankles around noontime. They start out right, but then after wearing these socks for a year or so, the bunch down at your ankles every day by the afternoon. So that is what elasticity is like, and even though we have so much of it when we’re young, it goes away as we get older. And it also goes away due to major life events such as, as I mentioned before, weight change or childbirth.
What is funny about liposuction is how much it can help reverse a lot of these problems for women. Another way of explaining what liposuction can do is to use an analogy of a 10-pound sack of potatoes. If you have a 10-pound bag of potatoes and you take 2 pound out, then you are left with 8 pounds of potatoes inside a 10-pound bag. So basically, you have got a lot of extra sack left. So the same is true if you have lost a lot of weight or gone through childbirth. With liposuction, we are helping shrink that 10-pound sack to a smaller size that will fit right over those 8 pounds of potatoes. That’s just one example I use as a way to explain it.
Now, in using the laser device—or also using the Vaser device, either one—we are optimizing that skin in the abdomen or other area of the body to shrink it down as much as possible. And once we shrink it down as much as possible, we essentially are handing the baton back off to the patient’s body—it’s up to that body to handle the rest of it, because we can only do so much.
Like I said, I have patients coming in who are all different ages. However, younger women tend to do better with the liposuction procedures simply because they have more elasticity left in the skin. So their skin snaps back into shape much easier.
Another thing is that I see so patients who come into the office after childbirth. When women who have just given birth come in, and the places they always ask for help with are their flanks and their bellies. Babies and giving birth are hard on women’s bellies and breasts. Let me tell you, as a physician, I see this all the time.
So while I see women of all ages coming in for liposuction, there definitely are some differences in what individual women are asking for in terms of the areas they want help with. And also, there is only so much we can do in terms of the skin’s elasticity, especially after big life changes such as major weight loss or childbirth. These are the kinds of things that can really stretch the skin, but they are also the kinds of things that we as physicians can really help with.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
