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Recovery Process for Liposuction

Medically reviewed by Jennifer Richman on July 15, 2025.

What is Liposuction?

Liposuction, also called “lipo” or lipoplasty, is a body contouring procedure that eliminates unwanted fat from specific places on the body. At the Gender Confirmation Center (GCC), we perform gender-affirming liposuction, which helps trans and non-binary patients feel greater gender congruence with the shape of their body. Liposuction is sometimes performed at the same time as other body contouring procedures (e.g., abdominoplasty or “tummy tuck”), fat grafting (e.g., BBL), and/or other gender-affirming surgeries like top surgery.

As with any surgery, it’s crucial to follow your liposuction aftercare instructions for optimal results. In this article, we’ll discuss the liposuction recovery timeline, tips for maximizing your results, warning signs during liposuction recovery, and other frequently asked questions from our patients. If you’re interested in learning more or discussing your body contouring goals, you can schedule a free virtual consultation with one of our experienced, board-certified plastic surgeons.

How Can I Maximize My Body Contouring Results Through Recovery?

Besides trying to avoid drastic changes in body weight, which can undo the results of body contouring, closely following the recovery guidelines can help you preserve your body contouring results. Dr. Facque (he/him) talks about this more in the following video:

Preparing for Lipoplasty Recovery

Before your surgery, you should make sure you have the following prepared to ensure optimal healing and recovery:

Plan your post-surgery care:

• Request time off from work at least six weeks in advance. Most people return to work two weeks after their procedure.
• Organize your care team (friends, family, or other loved ones) for your physical and emotional recovery. You’ll require their assistance with household tasks for a week or two, including round-the-clock care for the first 24 hours post-op.

• Prepare your recovery space around two days before liposuction, such as removing any tripping hazards. Read more suggestions here.

Lifestyle changes to advance the liposuction healing process:

• Refrain from smoking tobacco or cannabis for at least three weeks before and after your liposuction. Smoking can severely impair your liposuction healing process. Your surgeon may allow you to consume edibles.
• Refrain from drinking alcohol for at least one week before and after your liposuction. Alcohol shouldn’t be consumed with the pain medications you’ll be prescribed post-op.

Medication and Diet:

• Let your clinical team know which pharmacy you’d like your post-op prescriptions sent to. They’ll need to be filled and picked up about a week before surgery.
• Have any over-the-counter medications ready. These might include pain medication, scar care topical treatments, or stool softener to counteract the side effects of prescription pain medications.
• Your surgeon is likely to recommend a low-sodium diet for at least two weeks after your surgery. Since you’ll be recovering, and since prepared foods are sodium-rich, you may want to make your food ahead of time and/or make a meal plan with your care team.

How long does liposuction recovery take?

Most liposuction procedures are outpatient, meaning you can expect to return home after the operation. Patients can expect moderate pain, bruising, and inflammation through the first three weeks after surgery. Most patients can return to work two weeks after liposuction, although you should wait at least six weeks before resuming strenuous exercise and weight lifting.

When can I see my liposuction results?

It can take a year for results to settle due to inflammation. By 6 months post-op, most patients will begin to see their final results. At this point, we will be able to see how your body has responded to removing stubborn, unwanted fat. If your procedure includes larger incisions from removing excess skin, those scars will take a year to fully mature. We recommend that patients keep their scars out of the sun or covered with sunscreen for the first year.

What areas can I get liposuction on?

Liposuction is a procedure designed to remove unwanted fat in areas of the body that do not easily change with diet, exercise, or hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Patients often seek liposuction in the following areas, pictured below: the outer upper arms, inner upper arms, the waist or trunk, the buttocks, or the thighs (the outer, inner, front, and/or back).

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has recognized that for many transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming patients, liposuction and other body contouring procedures are not cosmetic, but medically necessary gender-affirming care.

Liposuction vs. Abdominoplasty/tummy tuck: What’s the Difference?

The primary difference is that liposuction removes fat but does not remove any skin. Liposuction involves making small incisions in the targeted zones, then inserting a cannula or thin suction tube to remove the desired amount of fat. The incisions are closed and the body is wrapped in surgical dressings and an elastic compression garment.

Skin excision is a separate procedure that’s sometimes combined with liposuction. Commonly, skin excisions “lift” areas like the arms, stomach, buttocks, outer thighs, and under the belly button. An abdominoplasty may involve a tightening of the abdominal muscles as well.

Everyone’s skin will tighten a different amount after liposuction-only procedures. Skin excision may be chosen alone or alongside liposuction procedures if the skin overhang is expected to exceed a desirable amount. We will try to make scars as inconspicuous as possible (ex. in the bikini region for an abdominoplasty/tummy tuck).

Liposuction Recovery Timeline

Weeks 1 – 2 Post-Op

Pain management

Pain, inflammation, and bruising peak during the first three days after surgery. Prescription pain medications are prescribed for use on an as-needed basis during this time.

• Moderate to severe pain should subside around 5 days post-op, and patients can expect mild soreness to last for around 3-6 weeks.
• Do not operate a car while on prescription pain meds.
• Rest as much as possible to help reduce inflammation and pain.
• If you underwent lipo and/or skin excision in the lower extremities, elevate your knees while you sleep to reduce inflammation. We recommend a few pillows under the knees and calves.

Compression garments and bandages

You will need to wear a compression garment and/or compression wraps day and night after surgery. The location and size of your compression garment and/or wraps will depend on where you had liposuction. The garments and/or wraps can be removed briefly to take a shower (which will be allowed 24 – 48 hours after surgery if no drains are present).

Compression garments must be worn for a period of time after surgery according to your surgeon’s preferences, typically between 3 weeks and 3 months. Compression helps reduce swelling and promotes uniformity of body contouring results.

Drains

Occasionally, a surgeon will need to insert surgical drains. This is not common for liposuction-only procedures, but will likely be needed after a skin excision procedure such as abdominoplasty/tummy tuck. Drains are used to expel unwanted fluid. It is normal to see blood in them the first few days after surgery. Once you wake up from surgery, your nurse will teach you how to care for your drains.

If drains are present, they will be removed around a week after surgery by your surgeon in a post-op appointment.

Diet

We recommend a low-sodium diet to reduce inflammation for the first 2 weeks after surgery. Staying hydrated with water or electrolyte drinks is important during your recovery.

Bathing

If you don’t have drains, wait 24 – 48 hours after your procedure to shower. If you were sent home with drains, you need to wait until after they are removed by our staff before you are cleared to shower.

Take showers only. Do not submerge yourself underwater (bath or swimming) for at least 3 weeks after surgery. You can briefly remove the compression garment to shower. Gently pat incisions dry after showering before you put the garment back on.

Physical activity

• Light walking every day is important for your circulation and to prevent blood clots.
• Please have a care person/team to help you with household tasks like cleaning, especially for the first three days post-op.
• If you get an abdominoplasty, try to avoid laying flat or standing up straight during this time. When reclining, maintain a bent position by using pillows under the back as well as pillows under the knees.

Returning to work

Most patients can return to work 1-2 weeks post-op. If your job involves heavy lifting, you may need to wait at least 6 weeks.

Weeks 3 – 6 Post-Op

Physical Activity

Lighter activities can be taken up after three weeks: you can try biking at a leisurely pace, yoga, slow jogging, or lifting up to 25lbs. After 6 weeks, you can return to full exercise.

Pain, Swelling, and Compression

Most inflammation reduces during this time with consistent use of compression garments. You’ll be able to get a sense of what your final results look like in 6 weeks, but it will still take 6 months to a year for everything to settle.

Liposuction Scars

Scars form after liposuction because small incisions (about a centimeter long) need to be made to insert the liposuction cannula. Typically, these scars heal and fade enough to become almost unnoticeable. If you get skin excision with your liposuction, you will likely have larger scars, though your surgeon will do their best to conceal them. For example, if you get an abdominoplasty, your surgeon would likely place your scars in the bikini area.

Urgent Recovery Concerns

If you experience the following symptoms during the initial recovery period, call your doctor for urgent help; they may be signs of liposuction complications or other serious health concerns:

• Moderate to severe pain that lasts beyond the first 2 weeks
• Fever
• New areas of swelling, bruising, or redness of the skin that were not present previously
• Shortness of breath, painful breathing, and/or chest pain
• Signs of a blood clot
  • Redness, swelling, and/or pain concentrated in your arm, leg, groin, calf, or at the back of the knee
  • Blood or other fluids leaking out of surgical incisions.
• If you experience abnormal bleeding, compress with firm pressure for 10 minutes until it stops
  • If bleeding heavily, go to urgent care and inform your surgeon

Frequently Asked Questions about Recovery after Liposuction

How long does it take to recover from liposuction?

Typically, liposuction is an outpatient procedure, so you won’t spend the night in the hospital after your surgery. You can expect moderate pain, bruising, and inflammation for three weeks post-op, though most people can return to work after two weeks. You should wait at least six weeks before you lift heavy objects or exercise intensely.

Will my results be permanent?

The final results are seen around 6 months to a year after liposuction. These changes  can last a long time, but will be affected by many factors. For example, changes in weight will affect the amount and distribution of fat cells in the body.

Can liposuction remove cellulite?

Liposuction removes fat, not the fibrous tissue underneath the skin that causes cellulite. Some patients do experience a reduction in cellulite, however, after their liposuction procedure.

Is liposuction covered by insurance?

Gender-affirming liposuction may be fully or partially covered by insurance in California, though it is not guaranteed. Further, as of May 2023, some insurance providers have new insurance restrictions around body contouring procedures. For more information about prices and financing options, as well as information about the GCC’s insurance concierge team, we invite you to consult this page.

How do I know if this procedure is the right fit for me?

There is no simple way to know if liposuction is right for you and your gender affirmation goals. We encourage you to consider what these are, what dysphoria you experience (if any), and whether or not surgery could alleviate these sensations. Often, prospective patients find it clarifying to have an open conversation about these topics with one of our surgeons in a free online consultation.

What’s the difference between liposuction and an abdominoplasty/tummy tuck?

The primary difference is that liposuction removes fat but does not remove any skin. Liposuction involves making small incisions in the targeted zones, then inserting a cannula or thin suction tube to remove the desired amount of fat. The incisions are closed and the body is wrapped in surgical dressings and an elastic compression garment.

Skin excision is a separate procedure that’s sometimes combined with liposuction. Commonly, skin excisions “lift” areas like the arms, stomach, buttocks, outer thighs, and under the belly button. An abdominoplasty may involve a tightening of the abdominal muscles as well.

Everyone’s skin will tighten a different amount after liposuction-only procedures. Skin excision may be chosen alone or alongside liposuction procedures if the skin overhang is expected to exceed a desirable amount. We will try to make scars as inconspicuous as possible (ex. in the bikini region for an abdominoplasty/tummy tuck).