A fresh review of Liposuction and its new technologies

Let’s start with Liposuction. The whole thing was initiated sometime in the mid 1900s when it used to be under general anaesthesia referred as dry technique, which put the patient to sleep and would conduct the surgery without any preparation to the treatable area. several incisions would be made and a stainless steel cannula would be inserted into the area and sort of poked inside the skin to break up the fatty cells and once the surgeon is satisfied, the churned fat would be suctioned out via a tube and aspirator; this resulted in excessive blood loss and bruising because the cannula would just cut into the skin over again. And as the patient won’t feel anything during and shortly after the surgery, would be but exposed to a lot of post surgical trauma like pain, dizziness and weakness due to blood loss and uneven results. Blood composed approximately thirty percent (30%) of the tissue that was removed by liposuction using the dry technique.

In the mid 1980s with the usage of tumescent technique the surgery gained some foothold in the medical world as a considerable way of removing subcutaneous fat from the abdomen, thighs, back and buttocks, all for the love of good contours.  

The procedure involved to intravenously inject a large amount of local anesthetics mixed with adrenalin into the treatable area which made the capillaries to constrict and swell and harden up the area this would appear that while breaking the surrounding skin to the fat would be stiff and hard while the fat would be soft. So once the cannula would start breaking the fat the skin being hard and swollen won’t be as much bruised. This technique worked well and surgical trauma was less and recovery faster. SO much that the tumescent technique succeeded over as the second generation liposuction and the dry technique expired and it is no more used.

A few years later ultrasound liposuction was introduced which was further developed and patented by the Colorado based Sound Surgical Technologies as Vaser Liposuction as the third generation of the procedure whose equipments and ways of the procedure are ruling the roost for 30 years now.

The technique involves the same tumescent liposuction and the advancement is the cannula used is a microcannula that is thinner than the older ones and is powered with ultrasound probes vibrating into the fat till the deep layers without damaging any surrounding tissue or collagen. This would not only break up but melt the fat into a smooth liquid which makes the pumping out of it a very easy. The surgeon can control how much energy is exerted into the area and increase and decrease the amount of energy accordingly and more specifically to minute areas. This was FDA and CE approved in 2004 and so on. And is the most widely used procedure of liposuction.

Laser Liposuction is another pioneer in the third generation liposuction powered by Cynosure as SmartLipo which uses light as its medium performing laser lipolysis. This actually burns the fat layers faster. Other ways of laser lipolysis include Pro Lipo, Cool Lipo and LipoLite and many more, but SmartLipo is the widely recognised FDA approved technology surgeons trust the most.

Vaser Hi def is the fourth generation technique which offers to not only remove the subcutaneous fat but also mold the patient’s body mimicking the musculature with a defined contours just like a natural six pack abs. This is much popular with male models and body builders that to sustain the look you have to maintain a good lifestyle including a balanced diet, some mandatory exercises and controlled consumption of narcotics.

Vaser Mid Def does the same thing but giving a softer definition just to firm and tighten the skin of various areas. This is much popular among women, as abdomen the mostly treatable area.

Now Vasersmooth is another minimal invasive cosmetic surgery devised by Vaser to provide a good aid for cellulite removal, which is an involuntary condition in women to develop gel like fat in more superficial layers of their skin resulting in a wrinkled and dimpled skin around the thighs, lower abdomen and buttocks. This is a 2-3 hour long surgery with a 7days downtime and recovery with permanent removal of the fat.

Micro liposuction is a procedure which involves the use of a smaller cannula , sometimes less than two millimeters wide, to remove cells of fat from areas like the chin and other areas of the face and neck. It is also a good option for gynecomastia and male breast reduction surgery.

This information is entirely based on face to face discussion with 2 highly qualified plastic surgeons practicing Vaser Liposuction and other techniques of the same at a state of the art and much reputed cosmetic clinic in London. This information is applicable for practitioners and seeking patients worldwide.