Background: Liposuction is the most commonly performed body contouring procedure. Both by the number of body areas and their overall surface area treated, liposuction is widely performed around the world. With all of the surgical fat removal done the most common body area treated is the abdomen and waistline. Regardless of the patient size liposuction achieves a central trunk reduction in a few hours that the patient could not achieve by months of effort on their own.
When patient’s consider liposuction they to try to understand the different types of technologies that exist to do it. It certainly can be confusing as each surgical fat removal method touts itself as being the ‘newest advance’ and offering the ‘best results with the least recovery’. But the reality is that all liposuction methods are invasive surgery that requires substantial recovery. There is simply no easy and painless method of surgical fat extraction.
Case Study: This 35 year-old female was bothered by some fullness in her stomach and love handle areas that had developed after having children that she could not shed. She was at a good weight for her body frame and could not devote more time to exercise than her current schedule permits.
Under general anesthesia she had power-assisted liposuction (PAL) performed on her abdomen, flanks and arms. A total of 1800ml of fat aspirate was removed in a 90 minute procedure.
It takes about six weeks after body liposuction to see the majority of the reductive results. Many patients in the first few weeks will appear bigger than before surgery due to swelling and bruising. But the true final results after surgical fat removal take a full three months to reveal the maximum reduction and any residual asymmetries. While every liposuction result will have some irregularities and asymmetries, it is just a question of how significant they may be and whether any revisional surgery will be needed to improve them.
Power-assisted liposuction (PAL) is a very popular method amongst plastic surgeons. The mechanical oscillation of the end of the cannula makes the manual effort by the surgeon less tiresome and offers a more efficient method of fat removal.
Highlights:
1) Liposuction can be very effective for reducing small collections of fat around the waistline that are resistant to diet and exercise.
2) The type of surgical fat removal used is not as important as the skill and experience of the operator performing it.
3) Power-assisted liposuction is one method of liposuction that works through the mechanical oscillation of the cannula tip.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana