Education, not medical advice
The content on this site is general patient education. It is not a diagnosis, not a treatment recommendation, and not a substitute for a consultation with a clinician who has examined you. Do not use it to decide that a finding can wait, and do not use it to decide that a finding needs emergency care on the strength of a website alone — when in doubt, seek care.
Clot and embolism are emergencies
A clot in the leg or the lung can follow body contour surgery, appears in the first days rather than weeks, and can be fatal. Sudden breathlessness, chest pain, or a swollen and painful calf requires emergency care immediately, not a call to the clinic in the morning. Infection that spreads along the tissue planes, and skin that loses its blood supply, are emergencies of the same period.
Contour, skin and what cannot be promised
Swelling after liposuction takes months to settle, and a result judged before that is a judgement about swelling rather than about the outcome. Some contour irregularities can be improved by transferring fat into the defect; others are the shape the tissue has settled into, and skin that has lost its elasticity may not redrape. Correcting a defect is not the same as restoring the original contour, and no outcome is promised.
When to seek care urgently
Breathlessness, chest pain, a swollen painful calf, a treated area turning dark, mottled, blistered or black, severe pain with spreading redness, heat, fever or a foul discharge, or one side much more swollen than the other with pale or cold skin all require emergency care. A collection of fluid that keeps refilling after drainage requires care the same day. Do not wait for a review appointment.