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Facts about liposuction
Cosmetic surgery is not an industry built on vanity alone, but on two much more powerful
emotions: denial and envy. It feeds our need of envy of those who symbolize nature's most
powerful but fleeting charms---youth, strength, beauty, and fertility.
- A recent poll found that 82 percent consider age bias a 'serious problem', up from 78 percent
three years ago. Many of these people are executives--male and female-who are turning to
cosmetic surgery to keep them in the game.
- Liposuction, a technique used to remove deposits of fat using a tool called a "suction cannula",
was developed by French surgeon Yves-Gerard Illouz in the 1970s, and it is the most popular
invasive cosmetic surgery procedure: over 450,000 people had liposuction in 2005 alone.
Liposuction is the most popular invasive cosmetic procedure, but it is not a permanent
weight-loss solution.
- In the "dry" technique, which few doctors use anymore, no fluid is injected into the targeted
area.
- The "wet" liposuction, the surgeon injects only a small amount of fluid, about six to eight
ounces and usually containing small amounts of ephinephrine, regardless of how much tissue
is subsequently removed.
- The "superwet" technique evolved because doctors found that the more fluid they injected--up
to a point--the less blood was lost. In the tumescent technique, doctors inject up to five
times as much fluid as aspirate. Because the injected fluid also contains large amounts of
lidocaine, tumescent liposuction is generally performed with only a local anesthetic.
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What are the risks and results of liposuction?
Although patient see liposuction as a quick and permanent fix, it's likely that few understand
its risks and sometimes temporary results. Office-based procedures may present the greatest
health reporting problem. Most procedures are done in the office, and there is no requirement
that adverse events have to be reported. Many patients often need days of continuous support
such as rehydration, pressure dressings, and good nursing care. Others may actually need
resuscitation and hospitalization, and this is not the function of many of the outpatient
clinics. Whether reported or not, liposuction issues can be real, the ones that are not
medically serious are wavy or uneven skin after fat removal, which can pose some level of anxiety.
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Are there side effects or complications with liposuction?
Overworking the heart can be a serious side effect of the tumescent technique. When the plan
to remove a specific amount of aspirate is arrived at, the injection of all that fluid can
literally have the patient drowning. The heart can't handle this type of fluid overload.
Another potentially deadly complication is infection. Infections may occur after any surgery,
and sometimes infections may be serious or life threatening such as in cases of necrotizing
fasciitis (when the bacteria eats away at tissue) or toxic shock syndrome, an infection
associated with surgery.
Other potentially serious problems are burns, embolisms, cardiac arrhythmia, edema, and nerve
compression. Cannulas that are inserted in several different locations may result in puncture
wounds that need time to heal. A condition called seroma, or an oozing or pooling of serum, or
body fluid, may be a problem after the more aggressive ultrasonic techniques during which skin
is detached from underlying tissue and fluid accumulates in the subcutaneous pocket.
The importance of getting to know your doctor cannot be stressed enough, it is vital you do your
research and understand the various aspects to undergoing surgery. Consult with your physician
to see how and what procedures will work for you, they will help in educating you to make
appropriate decisions. In the years to come, there will be more cosmetic surgery done in total
than all surgical procedures combined. The coming trend in cosmetic surgery is nowhere more
evident than with liposuction and breast implants, which speak to two of our very American
obsessions: weight and sex, don't let fears or lack of knowledge prevent you from being the best
you you can be.
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Cosmetic/Plastic Surgery
