My aunt had liposuction and she told me that by law, the doctor is only allowed to take out 3 or 4 pounds of fat during the procedure. Is this true? Are repeated procedures permitted? What’s the maximum one patient can lose in this way?
During liposuction you wind up losing a fair amount of fluids (blood, lymph, etc.) along with the fat, and it also tears up the tissue somewhat. As a result, bleeding is a very real risk. By limiting the amount of fat removed at one time, it limits the risk of a catastrophic complication. People have died from blood and fluid loss after liposuction gone bad, and even when done properly it does carry more risk of complications than many other cosmetic procedures.
That said - if you have 3-4 pounds removed, let everything heal up, then I don’t see why a repeat procedure couldn’t be performed. But the limitation on how much can be removed at one time really is for the safety of the patient.
I don’t know what the maximum is - either for a single procedure or multiple ones - but I would expect it to vary somewhat with the size of the patient, general health, and so forth.