I have been HIV+ for 4 years and am 34 years old. I work out 4-5 times per week and have pretty good muscle mass, however, during my first year of having the virus I fell into a pretty bad depression as well as suffered some bad side effects from Kaletra and went from 205 lbs to 280 lbs. I have now been working out consistently again for 2-3 years but cant seem to lose the excess weight as I once used to probably because my metabolism has slowed down. I have been contemplating Smart Lipo but I have not found one doctor in Tampa that is willing to do the procedure on anyone that is HIV+. I have done my research and have not found any different risks for HIV+ people. Do you have any suggestions? Are there major risks I am not aware of? Are there any good doctors anywhere in Florida who will perform Smart Lipo on someone who is positive? Your help is greatly appreciated.

If by SMART lipo you are referring to liposuction that is a complicated topic since much of the abdominal fat seen in the setting of HIV infection is intra-abdominal which is not as accessible to liposuction or other such procedures. An abdominal CT scan can often sort out the location of abdominal fat. I have not seen much published on liposuction for abdominal fat in HIV infection-if any reader can help out please post. KH