Patient Satisfaction Determines Surgical Success

The Journal of the American Society of Plastic surgeons, “Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery”, recently announced the results of a study of 360 patients treated with liposuction, lipoabdominoplasty, and abdominoplasty.  Lipoabdominoplasty is a term to describe liposuction of the abdomen and flanks combined with a tummy tuck.

This study was done to compare results of liposuction alone for reduction of the tummy compared to the cosmetic plastic surgery patient that had lipoabdominoplasty and just abdominoplasty from the patient’s point of view.

Before liposuction of the tummy

After liposuction of the tummy

The results showed that liposuction patients recovered more quickly and had less pain that the lipoabdominoplasty and abdominoplasty patients. However, the levels of satisfaction with the results of surgery were much higher than for liposuction alone. Patients stated they had improved self esteem and improved quality of life, with 97.6% saying they would do it again and 99.2% would recommend the procedures to others.