Liposuction techniques and technology have been carefully refined through the years and the procedure is now safer than ever before.
Technology has changed a great deal since liposuction was first introduced in the 1980s,
making it safer, more effective, and reducing the possible side effects such as uncontrolled bleeding.
Early methods for liposuction were not always the best and they were not always safe. The earlier forms of the operation often had some dangerous side effects like excessive blood loss, which of course could be dangerous.
The dry method, for example, is no longer used because it could cause severe bleeding problems that normally called for a blood transfusion to fix. Patients could lose up to thirty percent of their blood with the fat that was removed.
The dry method was abandoned and replaced by the wet method, which was different in that the surgeon would inject a local anesthesia with epinephrine into the patient, reducing the blood loss but only by five to ten percent. Consequently, the wet method was only slightly less dangerous than the method it replaced.
However, as liposuction has evolved the super wet method was introduced. This approach utilized the success of the wet method and improved on it by cutting the blood loss down to eight percent, but requiring patients to be under a general anesthesia for the process.
Today, if you're considering this mode of surgery, the tumescent method has become the most common, and it is a great improvement over modes of the past.
This method of lipo allows your plastic surgeon to remove a large volume of fat while you're under a local anesthesia. Local anesthesia is considered safer than general anesthesia because patients are not put under a deep sleep that affects their breathing.
Another benefit to this method of liposuction is the fact that the tumescent method is considered almost a bloodless surgery because patients lose very little blood during the procedure.
Liposuction surgical methods continue to evolve to create a surgery that is safe, effective, and controlled. Even as the tumescent method made strides in lipo safety, other methods are also available that take advantage of more modern technology including laser lipo and power assisted techniques.
Laser lipo works by treating the area with a local anesthesia to numb it and inflate it. Laser light is used to break up the fat and drain it. Unlike tumescent lipo, this method can be used for smaller targeted areas including areas of the face.
Finally, the PAL method works by using a rapid in-and-out powered cannula to suction out fat and is supposedly less traumatic for patients and easier for surgeon to use.
With so many safe options now available, it is clear that this surgical procedure has come a long way since its introduction thirty years ago.
