Techniques Used for Liposuction

Several techniques are used to for doing liposuction, tumescent liposuction, dry and wet techniques, ultrasonic assisted liposuction (UAL), and power assisted technique (PAL).

1. Tumescent Technque--this procedure takes about 4 to 5 hours, and consists in large amount of fluids (three times the amount of fat to be removed) into the targeted tissue thus making it swollen and firm, or tumescent. It is said that with tumescent local anesthesia, patients are able to avoid the post-operative nausea and vomiting associated with general anesthesia.

2. Dry Technique—this procedure is not in frequent use today because of the excessive blood loss it can cause. It consists in removing fat without any type of local anesthesia.

3. Wet Technique— this technique requires the injection of approximately 100 milliliters of local anesthesia containing epinephrine. Although the wet technique causes less blood loss than the dry technique, blood loss with the wet technique was still excessive and dangerous.

4. Super Wet Technique— in this technique, lesser amounts of fluids are used compared to tumescent. Usually the amount of fluid injected is equal to the amount of fat to be removed. It is performed under general anesthesia and takes one or two hours of surgery time.

5. Ultrasonic assisted liposuction (UAL) — this technique uses a special tube that produces ultrasound energy. As the tube passes through the fat areas, the energy ruptures the fat cell wall which then liquefies the fat. The fat is removed by a suction pump.

6. Power assisted technique (PAL)—this technique is performed in conjunction with the tumescent technique, and it uses a suction tip vibrating at a rapid speed. This causes the fat to easily dislodge from surrounding tissues so that it may be suctioned away gently and quickly.

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Breast Implants vs. Liposuction—RISKS

Just as breast implants, liposuction presents minor risks as well as severe (but rare) complication. The common risks include hematomas, skin necrosis (death of the affected skin), hyperpigmentation of incision sites, swelling, and among others rapid heart rate which can be caused epinephrine (adrenalin) which is an essential ingredient of the tumescent local anesthetic solution, by medications containing ephedrine-like drugs often found in nasal decongestants such as Sudafed or pseudoephedrine. (http://www.liposuction.com/safety/common_minor.php )

Comparing to breast implants, liposuctions are not associated with a great number for severe complications; nevertheless, they can cause blood cloths that can travel to the lungs, injury of nerves, blood vessels, muscles, lungs, and of abdominal organs following penetration of the abdominal cavity by a liposuction cannula; excessive IV Fluids can cause total body fluid overload, grave infections, and cardiac arrest which can be cause by a dangerous fall in the body's temperature (http://www.liposuction.com/safety/rare_severe.php ).
There has only been encountered one death in every 5000 cases of liposuction.
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