Liposuction

Liposuction can reshape and smooth the contours of your body. These procedures can sculpt your body to remove unwanted fat from specific areas, including the neck, abdomen, hips, buttock, thighs, knee, upper-arms, back (to remove the “back bra roll”) and calves.

Would you like a trimmer, more contoured body? Liposuction may be the answer. While it’s no substitute for a healthy diet and exercise for weight loss, liposuction can slim and reshape specific areas of the body. If you have areas of stubborn fat deposits that don’t seem to budge, no matter how much you diet and workout, liposuction can help. Although liposuction removes fat, it is not a weight loss procedure. Also known as Lipoplasty, Liposculpting or Body Contouring Surgery, liposuction is the most popular cosmetic procedure among men and women of all ages year after year. Liposuction is commonly used to remove fat and improve the contour of your abdomen, arms, neck, back, flanks, thighs, knees, calves and ankles. Men often have liposuction of their chest to treat gynecomastia.

Candidates for Liposuction

Liposuction is a procedure for individuals who, despite a healthy diet and exercise, have stubborn, persistent pockets of fat. Liposuction traditionally has been used to flatten problem areas or to enhance curves and contours. Recently, liposculpture and abdominal etching has gained popularity to bring out the lines of the abdomen, creating a more cut appearance. Individuals with a low percentage of body fat and want a more toned body are excellent candidate of liposculpture. Refinements in liposuction techniques allow for more defined results with decreased complications and faster recovery.

If you are close to your ideal body weight, a nonsmoker, do not plan to get pregnant, or have more than a 20-pound weight gain with unwanted fat of the arms, abdomen, flank, neck, thighs, knees calves or ankles, then liposuction is the choice for you. However, liposuction does not address loose skin, stretch marks or cellulite. If you have stretch marks you maybe a candidate for RF Microneedling which has been shown to improve the appearance of stretch marks. Cellfina is an FDA approved treatment for cellulite with long lasting results and a very high patient satisfaction rate 99%. If you have realistic expectations and are in good health, liposuction can help your clothes fit better.

Different Methods of Liposuction

Liposuction was originally developed in the 1970’s, and over the past 5 decades our liposuction techniques have improved the speed recovery and improve safety. Liposuction started as a dry technique using no tumescent wetting solution with sharp cannulas to remove fat. Patients had good results but experienced significant blood loss and subsequent bruising. The liposuction technique improved by using blunt tip cannulas and surgical wetting solution consisting of IV fluid, lidocaine and epinephrine called tumescent. Tumescent liposuction allows Dr. DiFrancesco to remove more fat with less blood loss and faster recovery. The development of different cannula shapes, diameters and lengths tailors your liposuction treatment to each area.

Types of Liposuction

Traditional liposuction

Traditional liposuction is the most popular of the liposuction techniques. It is usually performed under general anesthesia, and often includes several areas of the body. Liposuction uses several small incisions in which a cannula is introduced and tumescent is infused into the area to help with vasoconstriction and numbing the area. After waiting several minutes, a hollow cannula is used to remove the fat cells. Once the fat cells have been removed, they are gone forever.

Traditional liposuction is most commonly used technique when the fat which was removed is going to be used for fat grafting. Fat grafting can be preformed in the breast or in the buttocks for a Brazilian butt lift (BBL).

The down side of traditional liposuction is that it can be very labor intensive for your surgeon with a repetitive arm motion.

Power assisted Liposuction

Power-assisted liposuction is traditional liposuction with the addition of an electric-powered handpiece which vibrates the cannula back and forth. The vibration helps Dr. DiFrancesco with fat removal thus the technique is less labor-intensive. Power-assisted liposuction is especially helpful in treating areas with a lot of fibrous/ fatty tissue such as male breasts or gynecomastia. The vibration helps break up the fibrous tissue in gynecomastia, making the fat removal easier and less traumatic.

Smartlipo™ Laser Liposuction

Smartlipo use the same basic technique as traditional liposuction, infiltrating the fat with tumescent first and removing the fat with a cannula. Smartlipo uses a laser to break apart and liquify the fat cells prior to removal with the Liposuction cannula. This causes less trauma to the tissue resulting in less bruising and swelling with a fast recovery and less downtime. The laser stimulates collagen production improving skin tightening compared to traditional liposuction. Smartlipo in performed in the office under local anesthesia and is best for small areas of fat.

SAFElipo

SAFE lipo is the latest technique developed by plastic surgeons to improve liposuction results. SAFE stands for separation, aspiration, and fat equalization. Separation loosens the fat and breaks up or emulsifies the fat cells. Fat cells aspire gently with suction. Finally, fat equalization prevents contour deformities by smoothing out the remaining thin fat layer. SAFElipo can remove a lot of fat without increasing the chance of a contour deformity or damage to the skin.

Contact DiFrancesco Plastic Surgery to see which procedure is right for you!