What is Liposuction? The concept of liposuction is surprisingly simple. Liposuction is a surgical technique that improves body contour by removing excess fat deposits located between the skin and muscle. Liposuction is the removal of unwanted lumps, bulges, and areas of fat from the body.
Fat is a yellowish tissue containing cells filled with chemicals such as cholesterol, triglyceride etc. The source of fat is the diet we eat. Fat cells function in important aspects of animals, such as temperature regulation and protection. With evolution, these functions have lost their importance in humans. On the contrary, excess fat is associated with several health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, hormone problems such as infertility etc.
Where is fat normally present?
Most of the fat is present in the skin – in an inner layer called the subcutaneous layer. Smaller amounts are also present inside the abdomen. Fat in the skin contributes to the shape and appearance of the person. However, it is not uniformly distributed. Several areas such as the buttocks, thighs, and abdominal wall have a greater amount of fat. When a person puts on weight, the fat tends to get distributed more in these areas.
Does the total number of fat cells in the body increase as a person gains weight?
In the initial phase, when a person is gaining weight, there is an increase in the size of fat cells. However, there is a maximum size to which fat cells can grow. With significant weight gain, new fat cells are created from other body cells called fibro-blasts. Hence there is an increase in both the size and number of fat cells in the human body when a person gains a large amount of weight. When a patient loses weight by dieting, the fat cells simply shrink in size but do not necessarily diminish in number. It is far more difficult to decrease this number of fat cells. Liposuction is a method of decreasing the fat cell number.
What is resistant fat?
In women and men, fat deposits may be formed beneath the chin and on the flanks, hips, abdomen, inner and outer thighs, knees, and lower legs. This fat does not reduce even after dietary programs and slimming machines and is called resistance. Liposuction is a procedure to remove such fat and bring about improvement in the appearance of the person.
Liposuction is the removal of unwanted lumps, bulges, and areas of fat using thin suction tubes (cannulae) that are placed into the body fat through small incisions. A vacuum pump is attached to the cannula. This draws fat out of the body.
What is liposuction?
- Liposuction surgery removes fat by two mechanisms.
- Removal of fat cells: When liposuction is performed, the cannula is passed through the fat to create tunnels and fat cells are removed from the body.
- Damaging the fat cells: The motion of the cannula damages many of the remaining fat and other fibrous cells. These remaining damaged fat cells get absorbed slowly.
History of liposuction
It is interesting to note that the procedure was first described by an Italian gynaecologist Dr Giorgio Fischer. With introduction of tumescent anesthesia, by Dr Klein, the procedure has become very safe. Introduction of new types of cannulae, powered machines for aspiration and infiltration, and more recently, laser for lipolysis, both the safety and efficacy of the technique have been enhanced.
What are the methods of liposuction?
Liposuction can be accomplished in many ways:
- Conventional liposuction using large cannulae under general anesthesia. It uses larger cannulae to remove fat and hence is faster. However, it needs hospitalization and has some disadvantages (see under tumescent liposuction).
- Microcannula tumescent liposuction totally by local anesthesia-also called tumescent liposuction under local anesthesia.
What is powered liposuction?
Liposuction used to be done with plain cannulas. The newer method of liposuction involves the use of vibrating cannulas connected to a powered apparatus. This enables easier and more efficient use of fat. We use powered machines by micro air.
What is energy based liposuction?
Liposuction can be combined with different energy devices such as ultrasound, laser etc. This has the advantage of damaging and breaking down fat cells. So that fat loss continues to occur even after surgery. We prefer to use a laser (Nd-YAG) at our center as it also has the benefit of causing the skin to tighten and compensate for the fat loss.
What is high definition liposuction?
Before the only goal of liposuction used to be to remove deeper fat, while leaving superficial fat alone. However, newer advances in liposuction involve the selective removal of superficial fat as well to create grooves and lines, such as defining a six pack. However, patients have to be carefully selected for this technique.
Is liposuction an alternative to weight loss programs?
No, Liposuction is usually not intended as a weight-loss technique. Liposuction is commonly used to remove stubborn, diet- and exercise-resistant fat deposits and to sculpt the body into a slimmer profile. It should be clearly understood that liposuction is a cosmetic surgical method of improving the shape of the body and not a method of reducing weight.
However, during the process of liposuction, the person loses weight according to the amount of fat removed. e.g, if five litres of fat are removed (as is usually the case), there will be a weight loss of 5 kgs; all this fat, however, is removed from only one part of the body. Liposuction can help in weight loss by the following:
- By multiple liposuction sessions, 5-6 kgs can be lost in each session in different areas leading to a total of 15 kgs in 3 sessions.
- Loss of 5-6 kgs weight in a specific area such as abdomen or thighs enables a person is able to perform exercises better and hence lose weight.
The “Art of Liposuction”
Liposuction is a medium of artistic expression that displays itself in
- A practical application of scientific knowledge,
- The production of what is beautiful,
- A perfection of workmanship,
- A perpetual quest for improvement in technique, and
- A skill attained through clinical experience, and above all
- Making people feel happy about what they see in the mirror.
In liposuction, maximum speed and maximum volume of aspirate are not the criteria for excellence. Ultimately, excellence is measured in terms of patient happiness which is a function of safety, patient comfort, finesse, and quality of results.
Know your doctors
We practice the safest form of liposuction in our center as Dr. Jayashree has been trained by Dr Klein, the father of modern tumescent liposuction. She has also undergone training under Dr Marco Pelosi in USA and subsequently emerged as an expert in the field. She was recently honored as a founder member of Fischer Field Lipo group in DASIL and has performed in several workshops in Dubai, South Africa, Vietnam etc.
Dr. Aniketh has trained in liposuction with Dr. Sanjay Parashar in Dubai as well from Dr. Jayashree. In particular, he has learned high definition liposuction from Dr. Parashar and fat grafting from Dr. Tonnard in Belgium. Both have been authors of chapters in books as shown in their CV.
