Cankles. I think everyone knows what cankles are. Think Hilliary Clinton. If you don’t know the term it refers to when there is really no taper as the calf transitions into the ankle area. Sometimes this problem is associated with higher BMI patients but a lot of times it’s just the way that particular patient is shaped. The treatment for the problem is Liposuction. However, before you sign up for this procedure you need to understand what you are signing up for! Assuming you are a healthy patient, having the procedure done isn’t really a big deal. It would take about 1 to 1.5 hours under anesthesia on an outpatient basis. So the surgery itself isn’t the issue, the swelling after is. Any time we do liposuction, whether its traditional tumescent liposuction, ultrasonic lipo, or SmartLipo laser liposuction, we traumatize the soft tissues in that area and swelling results. That is a normal process and it is how the body heals itself after we have a surgery or experience an injury. The problem is that anything below the knee will swell more and for longer than any other area of the body. So we’ve now combined a procedure that is known to cause a fair amount of swelling in an area that is prone to swelling more than any other area on the body. Not a great combination. What this means for you is months of wearing compression hose and being very patient with the process. Like 6 to 9 months of patience. So it’s not a procedure for everyone. I have done it before and it works quite well but the patients were will to be very diligent with their compression hose for many months.

Lee Corbett, MD

Medical Director Corbett Cosmetic Aesthetic Surgery and MediSpa