Liposuction & Body Sculpture

Body sculpture by liposuction is literally a dream come true. Localized accumulations of fat, which are often inherited and frequently prove impossible to eliminate by exercise or dieting, can now be removed permanently by liposuction surgery.

Here at Michael Lin, MD, we offer our patients, both men and women, the opportunity to address those areas that cannot be rid of through regular diet and exercise. The most frequently treated areas for women are the abdomen, hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles and beneath the chin. In men, the most commonly treated areas include the love handles, the abdomen, chest area, the neck and also beneath the chin.

Before & Afters

Who is a good candidate for liposuction? The best candidates for liposuction are:
– in good health
– have realistic expectations
– has stable weight for 6 months to a year

There is neither a definite age limit, nor weight limit for patients who are “good candidates” for liposuction. It is important to emphasize that liposuction is not a treatment for general obesity. Liposuction surgery is not effective as a last resort for people who are unable to maintain stable weight by dieting but it can help jump start weight loss while addressing a positive change in diet and exercise. However, a person who is overweight but whose weight has been stable for years and has certain problem areas of fat may be an excellent candidate for liposuction.

What is liposuction?
The concept of liposuction is surprisingly simple. Liposuction is a surgical technique that improves the body’s contour by removing excess fat from fatty deposits located between the skin and muscle.

Traditional liposuction involves the use of a small stainless steel tube, called a cannula. The cannula is connected to a very powerful suction pump and inserted through small skin incisions. The removal of fat isaccomplished as the suction cannula creates tiny tunnels through the fatty layers. After surgery, these tiny tunnels collapse resulting in an improved body contour.

Are there different types of liposuction techniques?
Yes, there are several liposuction techniques commonly used to remove unwanted fat. Here at Linage Dermatology we offer our patients the choice of Awake Liposuction or Liposuction with general anesthesia.

What is Awake Liposuction?
Awake liposuction is a term used to describe a method that provides local anesthesia to large volumes of subcutaneous fat and thus permits liposuction totally by local anesthesia. Awake Liposuction is also known as tumescent liposuction which means swollen and firm. The technique uses large volumes of diluted solution of lidocaine, a local anesthetic, in combination with the basoconstrictive drug epinephrine, which temporarily shrinks capillaries.

Local anesthesia used in Awake Liposuction is so effective that patients no longer need intravenous sedatives, narcotic analgesics, nor general anesthesia. Many of our patients find this technique to be less painful and result in a speedier recovery and healing process.

Awake Liposuction Versus General Anesthesia Liposuction?
Virtually every patient who has had liposuction by using general anesthesia prior to Awake Liposuction have said that Awake Liposuction is a dramatically less painful experience than with the use of general anesthesia. With Awake Liposuction, local anesthesia infiltrates rapidly. Once the area has been completely numbed, surgery in the area is essentially painless and/or is associated with minimal discomfort. In addition, because the local anesthesia persists in the treated area for more than 12 hours, there is no pain immediately after the surgery. The advantage of general anesthesia liposuction is that multiple areas can be treated at once, while only small areas of fat deposits can be treated by Awake Liposuction per treatment.

Are Results Permanent?
Fat cells that are removed by liposuction do not grow back. As long as the patient does not gain excessive amounts of weight, the new, more pleasing silhouette is permanent. A woman, who always tends to put weight on her thighs and knees, will find that after liposuction, these areas are less likely than other areas to accumulate fat when she gains weight. In fact a number of our patients who have had liposuction have subsequently gained weight in areas that were not treated by liposuction. The areas originally treated have
maintained their new desirable silhouette.

Are The Scars Visible?
Because the tumescent technique uses very small cannulas, only tiny incisions are required.  The incisions are so small that no stitches are used.  The wounds heal by themselves and virtually disappear with time. 

How Is The Skin Affected?
The degree of skin change after liposuction is the same, as one would expect if it were possible to lose an equal amount of fat in these localized areas simply by dieting.  Because the small cannulas simply make small tunnels thought the fat, there remain multiple connections between the skin and the underlying tissue.  These fibrous connections contract with the healing process and maintain the skin in its natural position.  After liposuction by the tumescent technique, one does not have to worry about excessive folds of skin in the areas treated by liposuction.  This effect is so dramatic that many patients who previously would have required a surgical excision of skin, called a tummy tuck, could now have excellent results imply by having liposuction.

There is dramatically less bruising using local anesthesia for liposuction as compared to general anesthesia.  
There are two reasons for this: 

1) Because there is little bleeding during the procedure, almost no blood remains beneath the skin after surgery to cause bruising and 

2) With incision sites left unstitched, the anesthetic solution and blood are able to drain out which minimize bruising and swelling and     accelerates healing.

Immediate Post-Operative Recovery
After liposuction by general anesthesia, patients must be observed in a recovery room until it can be determined that they have not lost too much blood, and that the post-operative nausea and vomiting is not too profound.  With Awake Liposuction, there is virtually little to no blood loss and with local anesthesia there is rarely any nausea. 

Because it does take additional time to inject the local anesthesia with liposuction, the patient does remain on the surgical table longer than with liposuction by general anesthesia; however, because the recovery time is so short, the total amount of time that the patient is in the surgical facility is much shorter with Awake Liposuction than with general anesthesia.   Patients are normally discharged about half an hour after completion of the procedure.

Quick Return To Normal Activities
By not using stitches to close incision sites, there is an accelerated rate of healing.  Open incision sites permit drainage of the slightly blood tinged anesthetic solution.  This has had a dramatic effect in minimizing bruising.  Most patients now notice that bruising is almost entirely absent one week after surgery. Because Awake Liposuction eliminates bleeding and because the residual anesthetic solution drains out so quickly, there is less inflammation and the healing process is significantly accelerated.  

Since there is a significant decrease in swelling, inflammation and pain after the surgery, patients are able to return to normal physical activities very soon after surgery.  There is no limitation to physical activities other than what common sense would dictate.  Some patients are able to return to walking, jogging and/or light aerobic exercise within a day or two after surgery.  Other patients do find the soreness after surgery more significant than others, but on the average, most patients are quite surprised at how quickly they are able to return to normal activity. 

What Is A Successful Liposuction Surgery?
Liposuction surgery is successful when the patient is happy with the results.  Our goal is to achieve an optimal aesthetically appealing result rather than to maximize the amount of fat removed.  The cosmetic success of liposuction relies on removing inches rather than pounds.  For example, removing an amount of fat equivalent to a half-pound of butter from each outer thigh of a woman’s saddlebag area or from a man’s love handle areas would result in dramatic change in silhouette, but would not significantly change the persons weight.