One of my drains post-liposuction is still open. Is it risky?

Question

Hello doctor,

I got liposuction surgery last month. I was in the hospital for two days and then I was discharged. I come from a small town so I had to go a bit far from my hometown for the surgery. My doctor claims that he has 22 liters of fat removed from my body. My bodyweight before surgery was 198 pounds and post-surgery it was around 174 pounds. I got liposuction in my thighs buttocks abdomen and arms.

I searched online and it says that this much amount of fat removal from one surgery is not healthy. To give an idea of my BMI my height is 5' 2". The problem is it is already 21 days since surgery, and I have one of the drains which my surgeon kept open still draining, it started to drain post 7 days of surgery and it is on the back of my right thigh, and this is the third that opened since surgery but the two drains have already closed and clean, I still have swelling all over my body and I am facing a bit of problem in walking normally.

Because of the lockdown in my city I am unable to meet my surgeon and get post-op care, but he suggested that any general surgeon can help me so I consulted a general surgeon in my town and he said everything is fine. Also, I have skin necrosis on my left thigh. I do not know what I should do? As I have read online that most of the patients get well after 21 days of surgery and here I am still going through drain let alone nowhere close to healing completely.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Drains left open for fluid discharge generally close within two weeks. I think you were done a tumescent type of liposuction. You do not have any immediate complications as per your description, so I think it was done nicely. But prolonged complications in drain discharge needs some supervision. I hope you do not have any fever, because that indicates infection in that case you have to start antibiotics as per culture sensitivity immediately. I also wanted to know about your urine intake and swelling and thus you need to be done kidney function tests for the swelling. If there is skin necrosis it also needs immediate intervention. I advise you to have some tests which I am writing and get help from a good surgeon. Infection which spread to internal organs can be dangerous and so the skin necrosis. Emergency services are not blocked in lockdown.

I hope this has helped you.

Please feel free to reach out to me again for further queries.

Thank you.