Background: Liposuction remains one of the most popular and commonly performed body contouring procedure. Like all surgical techniques liposuction has evolved over the years and there are now a myriad of technologies available to help perform the procedure. I call all of these liposuction technologies ‘energy-driven’ since they all use various devices and different energies to more effectively break up the fat for vacuum extraction.
Each of these liposuction technologies has their own unique advantages and disadvantages and despite claims that one is superior to the other scientific evidence for comparisons does not exist. What is probably true is that any of the energy-driven devices is better than traditional liposuction which uses the doctor’s energy or old-fashioned ‘elbow grease’.
Power-assisted liposuction, commonly known by the acronym PAL, uses mechanical energy. It would be considered ‘low tech’ because it relies on mechanical oscillation of the tip of the cannula to create its pulverizing effect on fat collections. Its benefits are that it is more effective than a surgeon moving the cannula back and forth as well as reducing surgeon fatigue. Reducing surgeon fatigue may seem self-serving or trivial but the more effective and longer the surgeon can work the better the liposuction result will usually be. Liposuction is truly an effort-dependent process and the more effective that effort is the better the result will be.
Case Study: This 38 year-old female presented for abdominal and waistline contouring. She had a fairly small body frame but had fat collections that she could not budge with any further diet and exercise efforts. This a common presurgical history that is presented as many people ‘hit the wall’ in their own efforts to reshape their body.
Under general anesthesia and through a combined supine and prone positioning, the full abdomen, flanks, waistline and back rolls were treated using power-assisted liposuction. A total of 2200cc of fat aspirate was removed.
While liposuction surgery should never be viewed as a substitute for the patient’s own efforts, it can be a useful when one can no longer make body changes on their own. This patient shown here is the perfect candidate for liposuction surgery since she is not overweight and has unwanted collections that will forever remain refractory to diet an exercise. Power-assisted liposuction can very effectively reduce these fat collections and turn the maintenence of those results over to the patient.
Highlights:
1) Power-assisted liposuction (PAL) is an effective for abdominal and waistline contouring.
2) Power-assisted liposuction offers improved contouring results with less surgeon fatigue. (which undoubtably contributes to the improved patient results)
3) PAL does not add to the overall cost of liposuction surgery since it has no consumable costs and does not prolong the procedure with added time.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana