Tumescent Liposuction

Liposuction is the removal of excess fat with a small, straw-like instrument called a cannula that is attached to a suction machine. The fat layer under the skin is converted to a network of tunnels and the cannula is manipulated within the layers to remove unwanted fatty deposits. An elastic garment is then worn for compression and healing. The result is a re-sculpting of bulging areas into more attractive contours.

The local anesthesia injected into the tissue remains for 13 to 24 hours following your Los Angeles liposuction surgery, greatly minimizing post-operative pain. After tumescent liposuction, patients are usually alert and able to function without nausea, grogginess and the "washed out" feeling associated with general anesthesia. With the tumescent technique, there is minimal bruising, and many patients do not require post-operative reduction for pain. You can usually return to a desk-type job within 48 hours, and physical exercise generally can be resumed three to seven days after liposuction.

Liposuction is not intended as a method for weight loss. It is used as a shaping procedure for areas where hereditary fat deposits resistant to diet and exercise have accumulated. The best results from liposuction occur in body areas where there is reasonable muscle tone, where skin has good elastic quality, and where fat is not excessive. In cases where there is a significant loss of tone and elasticity superior cosmetic results may require a combination of both liposuction and surgical skin tightening to remove the excessive loose tissue.

Your dermatologic surgeon can advise you of the likelihood of the need for additional treatments, depending on the specific condition of your skin.

Some form of compression garment, similar to a girdle, is typically required to be worn by a patient for up to 2 weeks. The garment is used to help lower the danger of hematomas and fluid collection, as well as decrease swelling and to support the area that was treated.

Recovery time is different depending on each patient. Typically, returning back to work after one or two weeks is the norm for most patients. Strenuous activities, though, should be delayed for two to four weeks.

Liposuction carries some risks, as with any type of surgical procedure. They may consist of unevenness, looseness or wrinkling of the skin; fluid retention, infection, pigmentation changes, skin damage, and extreme loss of fluid that can lead to shock. While tumescent liposuction can carry the additional risk of fluid collection in the lungs and lidocaine toxicity, UAL can carry an additional risk of thermal burn injury.

Yes, our Beverly Hills liposuction can be used to treat areas of the face. The most common areas that are treated are the cheeks, chin and neck.

Used during a liposuction procedure, a cannula is a blunt-tipped, slender tube that is placed into tiny openings in the skin and then manipulated to disturb the fat cells before they are removed.

When the skin looks like it has faint waves on it or looks rippled, that is the result, simply put, rippling. The result of rippling can happen when the fat is eliminated and the skin does not fully agree to its new figure. This result is not typical; however, in most cases when it does, the patent is nevertheless satisfied with the results.

Liposuction is most effective for removing localized fat deposits in body areas that do not respond to dieting or exercising. Liposuction is not intended as a substitute for weight loss, but rather is a contouring procedure. It is best utilized in a program of exercise and optimal weight maintenance.

Liposuction in Los Angeles also has many valuable therapeutic applications and has been used effectively to treat medical conditions like excessive sweating and non-cosmetic fat accumulation, such as lipomas (benign fatty tumors) and gynecomastia (enlarged, male breasts.)

Before surgery, a complete medical history is taken and a careful examination is conducted in order to evaluate your condition and provide you with some of the best liposuction Los Angeles can offer. During the consultation, your dermatologic surgeon describes the procedure and what results might realistically be expected. Your doctor also will review alternative treatment options and explain the possible risks and complications that may occur. Photographs are frequently taken before and after surgery to help evaluate the amount of improvement.

The procedure is not deliberately used to treat cellulite, however liposuction has been known to even out some quantity of cellulite. Cellulaze® is a more effective treatment of cellulite.

Liposuction is usually not covered by insurance, but they may cover some of the costs if liposuction was used for reducing the breasts for instance. You should verify with your insurance company what type of coverage you can receive for this type of procedure.

Many areas of the face and body can receive liposuction. The common areas are the cheeks, chin, neck, upper arms, abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs, knees, calves, and ankles.

General anesthesia, local anesthesia, or an epidural may be used when performing liposuction.

Yes, gaining weight can cause the fat that was once removed to come back again. If you foresee yourself gaining a great deal of weight (such as a pregnancy) then you should seriously reconsider liposuction and reschedule for a later date.

Patients may experience a different amount or extent of pain; however, the majority of individuals find liposuction mildly uncomfortable rather than truly painful. Your doctor can prescribe a pain medicine that can help reduce any uneasiness that you may have. Keep in mind that the most recent methods (UAL and tumescent) have the benefit of less pain.

An individual that is in good shape and of normal body weight, but who has stubborn areas that refuse to go away with exercise and diet, such as ‘saddlebags’ on women or ‘love handles’ on men, make the best candidates for liposuction.

Liposuction can be performed on the dermatologic surgeon’s office facility, in an outpatient surgical suite or in a hospital. If general anesthesia is not otherwise indicated, its potential complications can be avoided by the use of local anesthesia (often used with light sedation) via the tumescent technique. This breakthrough technique refers to filling the skin with local anesthetic in order to remove unwanted fat more efficiently.

With tumescent liposuction, large volumes of a solution containing dilute lidocaine (a local anesthetic) and dilute epinephrine (a drug to shrink capillaries and prevent blood loss) are injected with minimal discomfort directly into areas of excessive fatty deposits. Once the liquid is injected, a small incision is made in the skin, and a tube connected to a vacuum inserted into the fatty layer. Using to and fro movements, the fat is drawn through the tube into a collection system. The tumescent method enables the dermatologic surgeon to remove large amounts of fat more uniformly with fewer skin irregularities and less bleeding and bruising.

The tumescent technique of liposuction is a remarkable safe procedure with few significant side effects. A recent study in Dermatologic Surgery Journal reported that 112 patients who underwent the tumescent procedure had an average of two quarts of fat removed with no significant complications. Clinical studies by other specialists have also demonstrated the safety and efficacy of tumescent liposuction.

Keeping healthy by exercising and eating right can prolong the results of liposuction, therefore the procedure is not a substitute for keeping fit and following a diet. By gaining a great deal of weight, the areas from which fat was removed may come back.

Power-assisted liposuction is a fairly new technique using a cannula that vibrates rather than one that is physically controlled. The vibrating cannula disrupts and releases the fat cells that surround the tissue before they are suctioned out. There are less complications with power-assisted liposuction, as well as accurate sculpting, less significant incisions, a shorter surgical time, and not as much trauma to the surrounding tissues.

Known as UAL or ultrasonic liposuction, ultrasound-assisted liposuction is a technique that utilizes an ultrasound probe to melt the fat prior suctioning it out. The method is coupled with a lower amount of bruising and swelling which happens after surgery. It is longer than the conventional method as a UAL can take anywhere from 1 ½ to 3 ½ hours to finalize. However, it does have a possibility of thermal burn.

The tumescent liposuction procedure uses a large amount of fluid that holds saline and lidocaine. The fluid is then inserted into the fatty tissues prior to the fat being suctioned out causing them to swell and turn firm or ‘tumesced’. A local anesthesia is usually required. The outcome of the method has the following benefits: more defined results, less recovery time, reduced post-operative swelling and bruising.

The tumescent liposuction can be longer than the general liposuction procedure and take as much as four to five hours long to complete. Furthermore, the risk of fluid collection in the lungs and lidocaine toxicity can occur.

The common liposuction usually takes between 1 and 2 hours to complete, but if there are bigger or various other areas to treat then the procedure can be longer. However, the surgery can be about 4 to 5 hours long for ultrasound assisted liposuction and tumescent liposuction.

Liposuction consists of the removing of fat and to some extent, loose skin could be reduced with liposuction if the skin is being pulled downwards by the fat. Nonetheless, the procedure is not typically used to treat loose skin. Actually, loose skin can at times seem more obvious when the underlying fat is eliminated. Other treatments, such as a facelift or tummy tuck, can be used in combination with liposuction to better treat loose skin.