To talk about new liposuction we first should know what is traditional liposuction. Traditional liposuction is a surgery solution to reshape the body contour and get rid of fat deposits. Liposuction targets the stubborn adipocytes that don’t go away with diet or exercise. Liposuction is not a method to loose weight. In fact, obese or extremely overweight people can’t undergo any type of liposuction.
Liposuction was first developed quite a long time ago, medically speaking. It is a technique that was invented in France in the 70s. The first liposuction techniques were really invasive. Once decided the area to target, the doctor would make an incision and would insert a cannula connected to a vacuum machine. The cannula would then suck the solid fat. This needed to be done with the patient under general anesthesia. General anesthesia is very risky, because if anything goes wrong it might cause severe complications to the patient, included death. Massive bleeding as a result of the incision and the suction of fat is considered normal in traditional liposuction. Another main disadvantage of this procedure is the recovery period. 4 to 6 weeks is considered a good recovery period and compressive garment must be worn during this time, so to avoid relaxation of the skin.
With this level of risk and downturns no wonders more and more surgeons started thinking about a way to make the whole process easier and safer. The first problem addressed was how to make the suction less traumatic for the patient. The solution was turn solid fat into liquid, emulsifying it in a oily substance, or soften it through some other process. Liquid or soften fat is much easier to remove than solid fat. In new liposuction the fat is liquefied or made softer from inside, with laser, water jets or freezing it or from outside with the use of ultrasound. With non-solid fat, the removal don’t need the same suction power as before, so smaller cannulas could be use. The new liposuction cannulas are just 1 to 2mm in diameter and so just a small incision (most of the times in a place where it will be barely seen) is needed. Small incisions makes possible to undergo new liposuction under local anesthesia and have a shorter recovery period. Furthermore with the use of laser the problem of relaxed skin can also be solved because laser can act from inside on the first layers of the skin, stimulating the production of dermal collagen. This will make the skin firmer and smoother.
As you can see by yourself, the new liposuction procedures have a great number of advantage, and are used more and more in every plastic surgery center instead of traditional liposuction.
