# Liposuction--Safe or Dangerous?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 28, 1999, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665 "1999-12-28T00:37:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 28, 1999, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/1 "1999-12-28T00:37:00Z")
Jeffery (StrTrkr777) mentioned liposuction in another thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread. So, is it dangerous or at least fairly safe? How much does it cost? What kind of doctor performs it?\*
\*Yes, I know I shouldn’t be getting medical advice from this board, but dangit, I’m curious. 😛
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### Author:  [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)
#### Post date: [December 28, 1999, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/2 "1999-12-28T15:33:00Z")
Search the web for Dr. Patrick Chavis. He killed 3 patients through botched liposuctions.
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### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 28, 1999, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/3 "1999-12-28T19:37:00Z")
Yikes!
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### Author:  [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)
#### Post date: [December 28, 1999, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/4 "1999-12-28T19:43:00Z")
You also might want to read [this](http://www.medicinenet.com/Script/Main/art.asp?li=MNI&d=2812&ArticleKey=9431) article.
* * *
If I wanted smoke blown up my ass, I’d be at home with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose.
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### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 28, 1999, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/5 "1999-12-28T20:07:00Z")
Still, 5 deaths out of 400,000 lipo procedures seems pretty low (unless, of course, you happen to be one of those 5 people).
Anyone know how much a tummy-tuck for a big old root beer belly would cost?
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [December 28, 1999, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/6 "1999-12-28T23:31:00Z")
There was recently some big South American drug lord that died on the table while getting a liposuction to help him change the way he looked.
And I just read that some actress on a TV show had minor liposuction to get rid of some solid fat deposits (she was already very thin), and just about died from some complications.
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### Author:  [@JMSaSU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JMSaSU)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/7 "1999-12-29T00:15:00Z")
I read in Garbage Mag. That 100,000 cubic centimeters of sucked fat get sent to landfills every year.
JACK
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/8 "1999-12-29T19:16:00Z")
**rolling eyes**
5 deaths in 400000 is not very bad at all, especially when at least one of them is gross negligence, and another one is from the anaesthesia (sp?)
As far as the lipo itself, it should be one of the safest operations done: performed correctly, the doctor shouldn’t go near major organs or blood vessels. The real risk factor with lipo is the general anaesthesia, which is used in nearly every operation performed.
The movie star mentioned had problems with the anaesthesia, not the procedure itself. As for the drug lord, well, who knows what kind of doctor he had.
As for Dr. Chavis, I read a couple of articles about him. He sounds greedy, lazy, and incompetent, period. He started doing lipos after taking _only half_ of a 4 day seminar on the procedure. This man would have been killing people if he was practicing as a dermatologist. As it was, he was originally licensed as an OB/GYN. Call me brutal, but I’m kinda glad he went into plastic surgery instead of endangering mothers and newborns.
Snark - when I priced a lipo/tummy tuck, it was $15000.
## [rant] The end of that article bitched that 5 deaths was too many for a cosmetic surgery. So tell me, how many people die because people like to drive fast, or because some people decide they can drive after they’ve been drinking. How many people, especially teens have died because of our obsession with sports? That someone died from a medical procedure is sad, but they did have a choice & it’s not nearly as sad as someone dying because of irresponsible behavior [/rant]
…in a state so nonintuitive it can only be called weird…
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### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/9 "1999-12-29T20:31:00Z")
Zyada wrote:
> [@](#):
>
> Snark - when I priced a lipo/tummy tuck, it was $15000.
There’s always a catch, isn’t there? 😉 No WAY I can afford that.
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### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/10 "1999-12-29T20:33:00Z")
Er, I mean, no WAY can my friend afford that!
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/11 "1999-12-29T21:58:00Z")
Hon,I’ll take "some"of that fat(about 20 lbs.). 😉
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### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/12 "1999-12-29T22:02:00Z")
You’re on, Orangecakes! There will be a one-time fat-removal fee of $15,000, but after that it’s yours.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/13 "1999-12-29T22:07:00Z")
I COULD use some pillows( :D) If I had 15,000,I’d send you to Hawaii where you could lie on the beach and eat coconuts(dietetic cocnuts!) Yours…
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### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/14 "1999-12-29T22:50:00Z")
Yeah, nothing like pillows filled with goo to get you a good night’s sleep…
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/15 "1999-12-29T23:05:00Z")
JMSaSU - if you read that right and it was cubic CENTIMETERS, well, there are 100 centimeters in a meter, so 1,000,000 CCs in a cubic meter. So about 1/10th of a cubic meter. Big Woo. (for the metrically challenged, a meter is 3 inches longer than a yard)
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### Author:  [@fuzzy-wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzy-wuzzy)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/16 "1999-12-30T00:47:00Z")
hmmm I had an aunt and uncle that had it done at the same time. They didn’t tell many people that they were doing it. But you could tell the difference so they have quite a bit taken off. It costs them around 10,000 apiece…and that was when the procedure first came out. It depends on how much you want done…
They came through it fine…I think my aunt had some infection from it…it causes major bruising…they both looked like someone had beat the hell out of them…around the areas they had done. But…I sure the procedure has changed and is probably better now. My uncle is a dibetic and my aunt had major major heart problems…she passed away in February of this year. But I’m sure if there had been any danger they wouldn’t have performed it.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/17 "1999-12-30T01:55:00Z")
Here is an interesting article on lipo\*\*[CLICK HERE](http://www.asds-net.org/tumlipo.html)\*\*
A stomach lipo for a male is between 2 and 4 thousand. If you want the love handles it can be another 1 or 2 thousand dollars.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/18 "1999-12-30T01:56:00Z")
Here is an interesting article on
lipo\*\*[CLICK HERE]([http://www.asds-net.org/t](http://www.asds-net.org/t)
umlipo.html)\*\*
A stomach lipo for a male is between
2 and 4 thousand. If you want the
love handles it can be another 1 or 2
thousand dollars.
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/19 "1999-12-30T03:13:00Z")
Egads, two quarts of fat on average are removed. Ewwwwwweeeeee
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### Author:  [@Snark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snark)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liposuction-safe-or-dangerous/5665/20 "1999-12-30T04:03:00Z")
Thanks for the link, Mark. Interesting article, and much more affordable.