# Is there any limit to how much fat they can take out via liposuction?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-limit-to-how-much-fat-they-can-take-out-via-liposuction/240452
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 17, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-limit-to-how-much-fat-they-can-take-out-via-liposuction/240452 "2004-04-17T01:14:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-limit-to-how-much-fat-they-can-take-out-via-liposuction/240452/1 "2004-04-17T01:14:52Z")

</div>

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?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-limit-to-how-much-fat-they-can-take-out-via-liposuction/240452/2 "2004-04-17T01:33:07Z")

</div>

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.