Obesity can be treated by suction lipoplasty when combined with other procedures.

The development of serial suction lipoplasty enables us to remove substantial amounts of subcutaneous fat safely and dependably on an outpatient basis, and free our patients of the worry of exogenous blood transfusion. Many practitioners and researchers do not advocate suction for the treatment of obesity, but rather regard it as a means of treating localized small deposits of fat or "figure faults." The reason for their caution is that the amounts of fat to be removed from the obese patient would require extensive hospitalization, transfusion, and increased risk of complications. Liposuction, when performed as a series, can make the treatment of obesity as safe as the treatment of smaller figure faults. We now use serial suction as an adjunct to other surgical and dietary methods for the control of obesity.