How Can I Get Rid Of My Little Abdominal Pooch?

Q: I had a baby about 16 months ago and still have a little pooch I cannot get to go away. I am interested in finding out about whether lipodissolve, smart lipo, and liposuction and seeing which one may be best for me.

A: Pregnancy does one thing that works against the effectiveness of any fat reduction method alone…it changes the abdominal skin. By stretching out the skin and losing some of its elasticity for most women, the abdominal pooch problem is often a combination of extra skin and fat.

It may be possible that liposuction (Smartlipo or traditional) alone will provide a satisfactory result for that abdominal pooch. But in most cases it has to be combined with some form of skin removal, maybe just a mini-tummy tuck will suffice.

One observation about Smartlipo that has become apparent to me over the past year is its apparent confusion as being different than traditional liposuction. Smartlipo is still liposuction and is invasive. It is simply a different and improved method of initially melting and loosing the fat before it is suctioned out. For whatever reason, patients often mistakenly think that Smartlipo is not surgery and is not liposuction.

The use of fat-dissolving injections for body fat removal has largely been relegated to a non-role in body contouring today. Despite its popularity from several years ago, it has failed to live up to the results we had hoped. While it can have some effectiveness, the fat areas must be quite small. Even in small areas, the use of Smartlipo under local anesthesia produces better results in a single stage procedure.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana