Can liposuction help reduce my cholesterol level?

In a word: no. Liposuction doesn't seem to have any affect on cholesterol.

But a new study, just presented at the ASPS meeting in Denver, suggests that liposuction may help patients who have an abnormally elevated triglyceride level, which is also a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack and stroke.

Triglycerides (review) are a type of lipid found in your blood. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't need right away into triglycerides, for storage in your fat cells.

The study measured triglyceride and cholesterol levels in 322 patients undergoing either liposuction or a tummy tuck. Triglyceride levels in patients with normal pre-operative levels saw no benefit. However, those patients with elevated triglyceride levels (≥150 mg/dl) experienced an average 43 percent reduction in triglyceride levels after surgery. This occurred in both men and women, and is about double the effect of typical drug therapy for elevated triglycerides.

Study author, Dr. Eric Swanson, said "Patients not only look better, but may be healthier too."

There were no changes seen in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol levels after liposuction.

According to the ASPS, liposuction is the fourth most popular procedure in plastic surgery, with more than 203,000 procedures performed last year in the U.S.