WHAT CAN I EXPECT DURING AN AWAKE LIPOSUCTION PROCEDURE?
There will be no general anesthesia during your tumescent liposuction procedure. Dr. Boudreault and Nurse Practitioner Molly will employ a variety of techniques to keep you calm and comfortable during your procedure while you are completely awake and in control of your senses. Because the cannula that the doctor uses to remove fat is much smaller than the traditional liposuction cannula, he can make much smaller, barely noticeable incisions. After the incisions, Dr. B will infuse the saline solution and then aspirate the fat. The whole process takes about 1-4 hours.
HOW LONG IS RECOVERY TIME?
This is one of the great benefits of opting for awake liposuction. Because the incisions are so small and because no general anesthesia is required, most patients who have an awake liposuction procedure are fully recovered and back to their normal activities in just a few days. This is a sharp contrast to regular asleep liposuction with general anesthesia, which usually has a recovery time of a week or two. If you do not have two weeks to rest and recover from liposuction and you are a good candidate, tumescent liposuction may be the better option.
WHAT DOES THE PROCEDURE TREAT?
Like asleep liposuction, awake liposuction treats unwanted fat, just at lower volumes than traditional liposuction. You can use awake liposuction on your double chin and on problem areas like arms, thighs, abdomen and other locations where excess fat is noticeable and unsightly. If you have a large number of problem areas or an extremely high volume of fat in any of these areas, traditional liposuction may be a better option for you. When you come in for your consultation, Dr. B can go over the benefits of awake vs. asleep liposuction for your particular situation.
HOW SOON WILL I SEE RESULTS FROM AWAKE LIPOSUCTION?
Since you will be awake the whole time, you may see some results as they happen! Once the fat is removed, you should see a difference right away. However, the removal of fat can create an issue with excess skin, which had previously been stretched by that fat. For this reason, we recommend combining awake liposuction with our cold plasma skin tightening procedure Renuvion. This involves us inserting a probe using the same incisions to deliver cold plasma energy which tightens the skin around the area where fat has been aspirated to reduce sag.
HOW MUCH DOES AWAKE LIPOSUCTION COST?
The average cost of an awake liposuction procedure can run anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000, depending upon how much liposuction is desired. If you decide to add the Renuvion procedure, it can bump the cost an extra $3,000 to $4,000, for a total cost of anywhere between $8,000 and $11,000 on average. We are happy to make recommendations for spreading out payments over time for your convenience. Many of our patients prefer to use CareCredit or Alphaeon for this purpose. Many of our patients will choose to apply for credit cards with longer terms at 0% interest, so you can enjoy your results soon without the immediate financial burden upfront.
