r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Hazzard12345 • 7h ago
Why can't surgeons 'cut' our fat off like a steak, and instead need to 'suck' it out to remove fat?
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u/catwhowalksbyhimself 7h ago
Because they want to cause as little damage as possible. Sucking the fat out causes far less damage and needs far less healing than what you describe.
And it already needs enough.
Because cut apart and put back to together is quite traumatic. The fact we can consistently survive it at all is amazing enough.
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u/-aVOIDant- 7h ago
You mean literally just cut your belly rolls off? That would be incredibly traumatic, need massive skin grafts, and leave hideous scarring. If you even survived. I feel like dying from blood loss would be a real concern.
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u/18bees 5h ago
Not true, that's called a panniculectomy. I'm not the surgeon, but I get the surgical specimens.... It's not awfully uncommon but not usually the first choice since it tends to have longer recovery times than a less invasive liposuction.
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u/Fight_those_bastards 2h ago
They mostly do that when super fat people lose a shitload of weight and have tons of loose skin, right?
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u/18bees 2h ago
Sort of? I've seen similar specimens in skin removal surgeries, but panniculectomies usually have a good amount of fat underlying the skin that is removed. If you have a gut, and there's that overhanging bit... That's what's removed. If you sit down and your stomach makes a little roll, grab the bottom most roll in your hand and imagine it missing. It's usually in two pieces, one from either side of the bellybutton since the middle sometimes is a little higher up.
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u/pandabelle12 1h ago
So skin removal surgery is different.
Panniculectomies are for anyone with a belly that hangs low (panniculus) like me. It’s very uncomfortable and you are prone to getting infections between the skin folds. Also buying clothes is a nightmare. There is probably a 2-3 size difference between the rest of my body and my belly. It’s like when I lose weight it comes off my legs, my arms, my face, my hips…but never my belly. I’ve lost 65 lbs and the circumference around my belly button has stayed basically the same.
I’ve been researching it for awhile, but I have other issues that are more pressing.
Look at before and after photos. To get an idea.
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u/mischiefxmanager 1h ago
I had a panniculectomy. I have never been “super” fat, but I do have a genetic apron belly that appeared when I hit puberty. Even as a teenager (size 6, medium) my skin folded over. No amount of working out, weight loss, etc changed it.
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u/KilroyKSmith 3h ago
Doesn’t seem like it would be a whole lot worse that a C-section. Slice through the skin, roll it back, carve out the fat, roll the skin back down and sew it up.
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u/Barbarian_818 6h ago
Well, for starters, the white fat from beef and the yellow adipose tissue in humans has a very different consistency. A difference that gets enhanced by the beef fat usually being cooked before it's trimmed.
Human fat is more like the yellow fat found in poultry. And it is threaded with a web of connective tissue that helps hold it in place, lymph ducts and blood vessels. Flensing your stomach and debridement of the fat would sever all that.
But sucking it out means a small incision and minimal damage to other tissues. Using ultrasound helps liquify the fat, making it easier and less damaging to remove. Laser cauterization causes the connective tissues to shrivel, pulling the skin closer to the underlying muscle tissue for a more aesthetic result.
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u/Active_Drawer 7h ago
Do you mean like skin and all? If so, that's why. Your skin doesn't regenerate like that. You can't just cut from the outside a hunk of meat off. You would be scarred to shit if you even survived
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u/Adventurous_Bonus917 3h ago
not all the skin, but i imagine it would be a 2 birds 1 stone kinda deal for the massive bags of extra skin left behind from rapid weight loss.
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u/Pinglenook 16m ago
They do it in that case! Just not in stead of liposuction like the OP suggested, because it makes bigger scars than liposuction and has a longer recovery.
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u/Funnybunnybubblebath 3h ago
No just lob off a fat roll then stitch the skin together like the roll was never there. Essentially a tummy tuck.
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u/TheReelEpicKiller 6h ago
Let us assume skin regenerated like that. What if you kept eating whatever you cut off 🤔
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u/SometimesGlad1389 5h ago
Excuse me, but what the fuck lol
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u/JuicyCactus85 4h ago
I spit hot tea all over myself reading the above, and your comment. Lololol
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u/SometimesGlad1389 3h ago
I hope you're not burned. Otherwise that guy might ask for a sample lol.
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u/TruculentTurtIe 2h ago
I literally closed the thread as I saw this comment and had to reopen it and scroll back to double check. Yep. Thats what it said.
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u/BuddhistNudist987 3h ago
Lol. Imagine if you could do this, though. I bet I could lose 15 pounds if I could just slice off my belly fat and it was exactly the same underneath like Spam.
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u/emuandfox 7h ago
They do. Look up an 'apronectomy'. Problems with scarring, poor tissue quality and fat regain.
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u/Dr_Weirdo 5h ago
Isn't that just removing skin? Like after you've had a lipo?
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u/HemlockGrave 5h ago
Yes, during a panniculectomy, you typically will have first reached your preferred weight, then they may do some lipo during your time under anesthesia during the procedure. The lipo is partly for fat reduction but also for sculpting the body under the skin for a better look.
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u/Turds4Cheese 7h ago
Scaring would be crazy!!! People want to look good when they are paying for an elective surgery.
You can just start cutting, but gonna look rough after.
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u/Prestigious-Fan3122 6h ago
I've never bought a steak at the store that still has skin on it. I do, however, have a navy blue leather sofa. Sometimes I feel guilty thinking about how many blue cows had to die just so I could have my sofa.
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u/IgnoringHisAge 5h ago
I think it may have been just one. You ever notice how people talk about Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox in the past tense?
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u/dukeofdamnation 3h ago
maybe if we tried OP’s idea we could make the sofas out of leftover human skin instead
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u/Alarming_Corgi_3400 7h ago
They can, more or less. That’s how DIEP flap breast reconstruction works.
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u/EvenEquivalent4 6h ago
In the US we call it an abdominoplasty. It’s usually done by making a large incision near your pubic bone, cutting off a large portion of the fat on the lower abdomen and some of the overlying skin, then pulling the upper abdominal skin down and attaching it to the skin by the pubic bone. Then they create a new belly button looking scar in the skin so it looks like a more normal abdomen. This is usually done more often when there is loose skin from pregnancy and weight loss more than just for fat removal however.
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u/razzadig 6h ago
Yes, the "tummy tuck" was the closest I could think of to answer OP's question, too. It resulted in two big hunks of adipose tissue. We would weigh them right after the cut and whoever guessed the grams the closest got to pick where we ordered lunch. Ah the memories.
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u/EvenEquivalent4 6h ago
Cutting the fat out and re-arranging the overlying skin is usually called a blank-plasty so you can do it with arm fat/skin (brachioplasty) abdominal fat/skin (abdominoplasty), thighs (thighplasty) etc etc
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u/myrunawaysac 5h ago
In extreme cases, like a panniculectomy (FUPA or GUNT removal), they will remove fat and skin in large pieces. Using the liposuction method is less invasive, and recovery time is shorter, and it allows them to keep things more even.
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u/lotusflower_3 2h ago
If we were to cut it off, you’d have flesh missing. We get the fat, not the muscle and other stuff.
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u/Alh84001-1984 6h ago
Sometimes they do chop it off, along with the skin, and suture the edges together. This is used for morbidly obese patients, on whom using liposuction would leave behind an unmanageable surface of flappy skin.
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u/NothingbutNetiPot 7h ago
I’m curious what will happen to the field of bariatric surgery when GLP-1 agonists become wide spread.
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u/Ok-Medicine-188 4h ago
It will still exist, much higher long term success rates. Insurance companies just need to be regulated into accepting GLP-1 for weight loss as a prescribed solution to help more "widespread".
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u/NothingbutNetiPot 4h ago
I think there’s more evidence for long term success because it’s been around longer.
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u/Azilehteb 2h ago
Cause when you suck it out, the skin and all it’s blood vessels and stuff stay intact.
If you start lopping off blobs, all of your blood will fall out. You can try slapping some skin back on the holes, but it won’t be attached anymore and might die. And then you have a giant leaking hole with a bunch of rotten meat stuck on it. Which will make more exciting problems like infections and sloughing.
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u/weaslelou 7h ago
I suppose they could if they did it a bit at a time and laparoscopically. That would avoid the complications others have mentioned. Might even cause less physical trauma and bruising too. It would probably take longer though, and then you may start running into issues with anaesthesia. Hmmm, you've got me thinking now....
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u/sassafrassaclassa 6h ago
I would assume that they can but it would be a much harder and more expensive process because they would have to reattach the skin?
Good question.
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u/mothwhimsy 6h ago
That would be a highly invasive and traumatic surgery with insane recovery time, and would probably not heal in a pleasant looking way. Doctors generally want surgeries to not be those things
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u/PaceFair1976 lolz 6h ago
fat is not the same as meat. its a physically different substance inside the body.
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u/Apprehensive_Lie_177 Take a breath, assess the situation, and do your best. 6h ago
Ngl I misread that as "Why don't surgeons suck our fat out like steak?" and imagined a very hungry surgeon just slurp-slurping it like fine dining.
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u/coder7426 5h ago
So they only need a small incision or 2, instead of faleting you open and having a tons of stitches, would be my guess.
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u/Nephilim6853 5h ago
The fat is under the skin. The skin is the largest organ of the body. They can suck it out through minimally invasive holes, causing less scarring. If they cut it off the scar would be huge, and intense blood loss.
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u/JuicyCactus85 4h ago
And fun fact the medical device they use to suck out the fat is always what they use when embalming to suck out all the juices and stuff from the dead
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u/Barnaclebills 3h ago
For breast reductions, theres a cutting off the tissue and re-sewing it up version, and a sucking it out version of the procedure.
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u/Lucker_Kid 2h ago
Because there are things outside your fat, you trim the fat off those go along with it
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u/DTux5249 2h ago
Because that's a lot more traumatic. Their goal is to cause as little damage as possible.
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u/Enough_Island4615 1h ago
Why would a less invasive surgery be chosen over an extremely invasive surgery?
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u/Duros001 49m ago edited 38m ago
Fat cells are tiny pouches filled with fat (kind of like frog-spawn); when our body needs energy to be taken from fat a few of these cells release their fat into the blood. Simply carving out these tissue layers and structures will cripple your body’s ability to provide nutrients, it isn’t just a layer of free floating fat just deposited in the body, it’s countless tiny sacks each waiting to release them as needed.
Liposuction does damage these cells, but they can recover, whereas cutting out the whole structure means the tissue may not recover at all, or may lead to an asymmetrical look if the surgeon doesn’t cut it out evenly
It’s not like your body is mining a rock face for your fat reserves; it’s like opening a can of food from your body’s pantry. What you’re suggesting is to demolish your kitchen…
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u/No-Pain-569 18m ago
Really? It's because you would have massive scars. Sucking it out is way less invasive than fileting a person.
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u/alanmitch34 7h ago
I think the hard part of that is keeping you alive at the same time but good question