The Skinny on Liposuction
What Liposuction Is
Liposuction, also known as
lipoplasty, contours your body, removes excess fat, and helps you to appear slimmer.
Liposuction will reshape your body and improve your body’s proportions. Over the years, advances such as
tumescent liposuction, ultrasonic assisted liposuction and laser assisted liposuction have made the procedure increasingly more powerful and successful.
Is Liposuction Right for Me?
People journey down the road of body contouring and
liposuction for a variety of reasons. It’s important you realize that
liposuction is not an alternative to losing weight. Instead, it is a solution to get rid of stubborn fat. Your
plastic surgeon will help you to determine if liposuction can achieve your goals for you. Your
plastic surgeon will ask why it is you want surgery, what your expected outcome is and will evaluate your surgical history as well as your health. There are
benefits to liposuction as well as
risks to liposuction. Your
plastic surgeon will explain these to you so that you can consider them. You can educate yourself using our easy-to-navigate Liposuction Guide.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Liposuction
Patients who have fat deposits that can not be eliminated through physical exercise and a healthy diet make good candidates. It’s especially helpful if you have some elasticity left in your skin (an issue older patients face). Since
liposuction is not a procedure to aid in weight loss,
plastic surgeons make it clear that your lifestyle must complement this procedure. If you suffer from diabetes, poor circulation, heart or lung disease, healing from your liposuction treatment may be prolonged.
Determining if
liposuction is a procedure that is right for you will require a consultation with a board certified
plastic surgeon. You must determine why it is you want
liposuction and what you are expecting as your outcome. Your plastic surgeon can help you to understand if
liposuction will achieve your goals or if another
body contouring procedure such as
tummy tuck might be better for you.
How Liposuction Works
There are several different types of
liposuction but all use an instrument known as a cannula to suction excess fat from beneath your skin. The various types of
liposuction differ based on technologies or techniques for loosening the fat deposits prior to suctioning them out.
- Laser Liposuction (Laser Assisted Liposuction): A laser melts fat cells to make them easier to suction out through the cannula. Several different names are used when speaking about laser liposuction, including SmartLipo, CoolLipo and ProLipo.
- PAL (Power Assisted Liposuction): Fat cells are manipulated by using a thin cannula to suction fat while the power is supplied by an electric motor or air which is compressed. This produces a rapid in-and-out movement or a spinning rotation of the cannula.
- SAL (Suction Assisted Liposuction): Traditional liposuction which suctions fat cells through a cannula.
- TCL (Twin Cannula Assisted Liposuction or TCAL): This method uses a tube within a tube, as a cannula. As the inner tube vibrates, it covers more area (up to 2 inches, rather than just 1/4 of an inch) than other power-assisted devices to remove fat cells. The surgeon's labor is minimized, and the patient's "friction burns" are lessened since the outer tube protects the person from the heat created by the inner tube's vibration.
- Tumescent Liposuction: A fluid is injected to help loosen fat cells prior to suctioning. This solution also helps to control bleeding and pain. A “wet” technique, it can be used in combination with other techniques like UAL.
- UAL (Ultrasound Assisted Liposuction): Ultrasound ruptures fat cells to make them easier to suction out through the cannula. The thermal energy may also help to tighten your skin.
Parts of the Body That Can Benefit From Liposuction
There are many problem areas that
liposuction can treat. These bulging pockets of fat may remain no matter how hard you try to get rid of them. Treatable areas include:
The Next Step
If you think
liposuction is for you,
find a board certified plastic surgeon for a consultation. If you’d like to learn more about the procedure, be sure to read more of
LipoSite’s Liposuction Guide.
LipoSite's Guide To Liposuction