# Can liposuction migitate effects of obesity?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 12, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191 "2006-07-12T15:40:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191/1 "2006-07-12T15:40:53Z")
Just as the thread title says. Let’s say we have a person who’d be morbidly obese without liposuction, but uses lots and lots of liposuction to manage a normal weight. I’d expect liposuction to help prevent weight-bearing problems such as knee & back pain, but would the heart problems, diabetes risk, et cetera be reduced at all? In addition, does it make a difference whether a person was morbidly obese and then got liposuction, or never became morbidly obese but had fat sucked out every time s/he gained 10 pounds over and over?
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191/2 "2006-07-12T17:56:23Z")
There’s a limit to how much fat can be sucked out at any given time due to blood loss. Liposuction is better suited to “sculpting” the body than massive weight loss.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191/3 "2006-07-12T19:17:22Z")
And doesn’t fat get stored in and around internal organs? That fat can’t be lipo’ed AFAIK.
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### Author:  [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191/4 "2006-07-12T19:41:21Z")
Liposuction is purely cosmetic. It doesn’t mitigate the effects of the poor lifestyle choices that lead to obesity (barring clinical problems). Liposuction doesn’t improve your health and the procedure itself carries significant risks. The ways to maintain/improve your health are well known and liposuction is certainly no shortcut. The only direct effect that I can think of would be a lowering of estrogen production as fat cells produce estrogen, even in men.
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### Author:  [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191/5 "2006-07-12T20:10:52Z")
I know some ladies who got lyposucked. They looked fine for a little while, then got all that fat back because they hadn’t changed any of their habits.
And Telemark is correct about internal fat. A morbidly obese person might consider bariatric surgery. That _forces_ a lifestyle change for a little over a year and the first fat to go is the stuff around your internal organs (personal experience).
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### Author:  [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-liposuction-migitate-effects-of-obesity/364191/6 "2006-07-13T02:17:43Z")
Ah thanks. The reason I asked the question is because I was reading how abdominal fat was a risk factor, and the question entered my head, “well, why not just suck it out?” It hadn’t occured to me that abdominal fat also implied more fat deposited around the organs. Thanks.