You know who you are. You are the person that one day walked by a mirror to see a reflection of you on the inside, but not the “you” you want to be on the outside. You are the person that made a mental commitment to target those annoying areas of your body to tighten, shrink, or change them in some way. Maybe it’s your abdomen is not as defined and flat as you want in your favorite pair of jeans. Or it may be the “love handles” that despite their name are not loved at all. Or do you have the thighs, ankles, or calves that seem to be completely resistant to exercise? Maybe you just had a beautiful new baby and now it is time to get back that body you had prior to being pregnant. You are the person that despite the lifestyle changes through diet and exercise, you have not been able to achieve the body or look you desire.

In 2007, more than 450,000 men and women had liposuction making it the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedure. Inconspicuous incisions are made and small metal tubes, connected to a suction source, are inserted and the fat is mechanically removed. If your weight is maintained, the fat loss will remain reduced.

Liposuction techniques have evolved since its inception in 1974. The newer techniques of removing the unwanted fat involve destroying the fat with some type of energy. For example, SmartLipo® uses laser energy to liquefy the fat cells. Often, physicians using SmartLipo ® allow the liquid fat to remain in the body to be reabsorbed. Unfortunately, this does not produce immediate results as the re-absorbtion takes time. Patients that combine conventional liposuction with SmartLipo ® to remove the liquefied fat from the body will have immediate results. Essentially, SmartLipo ® requires two procedures to accomplish what conventional liposuction is able to achieve alone.

What happens to the removed fat? If it is removed with SmartLipo ® or another energy source other than conventional liposuction, the fat will disappear from that area. This is important to consider because the second most common non-surgical cosmetic procedure performed last year was filler injections such Restylane®, Juvederm®, and Perlane®? Those familiar with fillers know that all fillers have to be re-injected over time to maintain the achieved results. Consider this - fat makes is great permanent filler! When harvested with liposuction, the fat is cleaned and injected into desired areas such as your face, lips, and buttocks. Left over fat is frozen and stored for personal use at a later time. Harvesting fat with liposuction to be reused as fillers saves you money!

In well-trained hands, liposuction and SmartLipo® have the similiar results. Unwanted fat is removed from areas resistant to fat loss. Both may be performed under a local anesthetic with similar downtime and potential risks and complications. However, conventional liposuction is only one procedure and allows the added benefit of reusing the unwanted fat in areas to enhance your face and body!

When diet and exercise are not enough, find a cosmetic surgeon, an artist that is well trained to redefine that image you see in the mirror to reflect your beauty … inside and out.

Jerry M. Guanciale, DO, FACOS
A Fellow in the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons
Board Certified in General Surgery
Office: 843-995-5005  

Tags: Fat Grafting, Liposuction, SmartLipo

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 31st, 2009 at 9:08 am and is filed under Liposuction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.