Liposuction has become the most popular elective surgery with more than 450,000 operations every year, with each costing several thousand dollars. A key question about liposuction — first done in 2974 —  is whether or not the fat comes back. If so , where?

A new study led by Drs. Teri L. Hernandez and Robert H. Eckel of the University of Colorado has the answer, and it’s not positive. The result of their study, published in the latest issue of Obesity confirms that the fat does return, but not to the area of the body liposuctioned.

Women who had liposuction in their thighs had new fat redistributed upstairs, ‘mostly in the upper abdomen, but also around the shoulders and triceps of the arms.’