Complications of body sculpture: prevention and treatment.

In many countries, lipoplasty is the most frequently performed aesthetic procedure. It has been promoted as a safe, easy-to-learn, outpatient procedure. Although plastic surgeons have developed safety measures to perform the technique, there are serious risks, including death at a rate of 1/5000 procedures. Life-threatening complications include pulmonary embolism, hemorrhage, perforation, infection, lidocaine toxicity, epinephrine toxicity, third space fluid shifts, and fat embolism syndrome. Aesthetic complications include undercorrection (insufficient fat removal), overcorrection (excess fat removal), irregular fat removal with palpable and visible irregularities, edema, hematoma, seroma, local infection, cutaneous slough, hyperpigmentation, vasculopathies, and permanent color changes in the skin. In this article we present methods to prevent and, when possible, treat these complications.