The obesity crisis sadly continues to get out of control:
Not only was the extra weight affecting Brooke’s self-esteem, but it was seriously affecting her health.Her mother, Cindy, said that Brooke’s blood pressure was sky high, and doctors said she was at risk for a stroke.
Ersek agreed to go through with the procedure, and removed 35 pounds of fat and fluid from her body. Today, Brooke weighs 153 pounds. She and her family called the surgery a miracle.
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Is liposuction an effective treatment for obesity? Perhaps a plastic surgeon could comment on this. I thought the purpose of liposuction was to “sculpt” the body, rather than remove huge gobs of fat.
Didn’t they have a study a while back that showed no improvement in cholesterol, sugar or blood pressure as a result of liposuction? I vaguely remember something like it, but don’t remember the details.
Also isn’t 150 still too high for a 12-year old? My 70-something mother is 170 and she is obese. This girl is 3 inches taller, but she is quite a bit younger.
The girl has a pretty face and she could be quite a beauty.
Lack of metabolic benefit from liposuction is discussed in N Engl J Med. 2004 Jun 17;350(25):2549-57.
Absence of an effect of liposuction on insulin action and risk factors for coronary heart disease. “CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal liposuction does not significantly improve obesity-associated metabolic abnormalities. Decreasing adipose tissue mass alone will not achieve the metabolic benefits of weight loss.”
See also Am J Med. 2006 May;119(5 Suppl 1):S17-23.
“The metabolic consequences of obesity, such as insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance, are primarily attributable to visceral, rather than to subcutaneous, adipose tissue. As a result, liposuction, which mainly removes subcutaneous fat, has no significant effect on insulin sensitivity; by contrast, weight loss resulting from bariatric surgical procedures is associated with resolution of type 2 diabetes in almost 80% of patients.”
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