The Ever-Improving Liposuction Techniques

    ALBANY, NY, June 27, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Liposuction was first performed successfully in Italy in 1974, although previous attempts had failed since the 1920s. U.S. and European surgeons worked on it, trying different techniques and getting mixed results, including gangrene in one case.

How to Safely Remove Fatty Tissue

The central problem to be solved when unwanted fat is removed from the body is how to most easily and safely remove it. Fatty tissue is thick and best removed if it is emulsified first - that is, if the fat cell walls are dissolved, making the tissue more liquid. Of course, this must be done without harming any nearby structures or causing bleeding.

A breakthrough happened in 1982 when a French surgeon developed the "Illouz Method", using a fluid infusion to liquefy the fat, blunt cannulas to avoid injury, and strong suction to remove the fat and fluid. This quickly led to the tumescent liposuction procedure that we know, where a large amount of saline solution is first injected into the treatment area.

The term tumescent means swollen and this injected fluid enlarges the area, creating more space for the surgeon to move the cannula around, loosening unwanted fat for removal. The fluid also contains an anesthetic (lidocaine) for local pain reduction and when tumescent liposuction is done with IV sedation, it requires no general anesthesia, which eliminates a lot of risk. Tumescent liposuction has been achieving predictably good results, but more improvements were on the way.

Concerns arose over the large amount of injected fluid possibly harming adjacent tissues and so developed the "super-wet" technique, using less saline solution. Late in the 1990s, ultrasound was tried for liquefying the fat and Ultrasound Assisted Liposuction (UAL) has been very successful. Ultrasound is sound energy outside our hearing range. Vaser TM is the most well known and respected of the ultrasound guided techniques.

Laser Liposuction (Laser Lipolysis)
More recently, lasers have been used to break up the fat before removal. Laser lipolysis goes by many names including Smartlipo, Liopform, and Lipotherm to name a few. Lasers have strong advantages for medical use:
- They do not cut any tissue but instead dissolve or vaporize it;
- They leave no scars;
- They reduce bleeding because they seal the tissue as they work;
- For the same reason, they reduce any chance of infection;
- They shorten your recovery time

The laser used in laser liposuction is inserted inside a thin cannula (hollow, flexible tube) and dissolves the fat cell walls, which "melts" the tissue for easy removal. Because the tube is so thin, the one or two incisions necessary are very small. The laser warmth shrinks the skin, enabling it to fit more snugly over your newly slim shape.

With vastly reduced post-surgery risks, you can return to work or normal activities in one or two days.

- "Precision liposuction today is not a single modality but rather a combination of multiple tools to get the best results. VaserTM is the least traumatic and efficient method of removing volume, while laser lipolysis provides an added degree of precision unlike anything I have seen before. It allows me to work on hard-to-treat areas and even around the eyes," said Dr. Arthur Falk of Albany, New York. "Unlike conventional liposuction, with a laser you get the added benefit of skin tightening."

There is a skill to using a laser successfully and if you are interested in laser liposuction, you would do well to choose a very experienced cosmetic surgeon like Dr. Falk who serves Albany and Schnenectady, New York (http://www.aboutfacedoc.com).

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