Liposuction is one the most popular plastic surgery procedure in the United States. It is also called liposculpture, lipoplasty, and suction-assisted lipectomy. Despite what is generally perceived, liposuction is not for overweight people.  The best candidate for liposuction is someone who is physically fit and eats well-balanced meals but is unable to reduce some extra fatty deposit that is well localized.

In its early days, liposuction surgery required blood transfusions because blood loss was severe. With the introduction of the tumescent technique by Dr Jeffrey Klein the bleeding problem was solved.  More over with the tumescent technique, liposuction could be performed with the patient wide awake, minimizing blood loss and the risks of general anesthesia. For the past 25 years, tumescent liposuction has enjoyed an excellent safety profile.¹

Advantages

There are many advantages of the tumescent approach include the following:

• Minimized blood loss
• IV fluid replacement is not necessary.
• Decrease the risk of infections.
• Smoother contouring with less risk of unevenness.
• Significant less post operative pain.
• Safer by eliminating the risk of genera\l anesthesia.

How is tumescent liposuction done?

On the day of the procedure, the patient is given an oral mild sedative pill. In the operating room, Dr Simoni, a Beverly Hills liposuction specialist,  injects approximately four to 20 tiny areas with numbing solution and start to inject the tumescent fluid with a small needle.

Depending on the area to be suctioned, the process of numbing an area can take from 30 minutes (chin or knees) to an hour (most other areas). The numbing is done slowly and gently so the experience would be more pleasant. Most patients have very little, if any, discomfort during this part of the process. Additionally, they may fall asleep, watch TV, or listen to music at this time.

After the area is anesthetized, Dr Simoni, a Los Angeles liposuction expert, will suction the area(s). Before the tumescent method or suction, the ultrasonic-assisted liposuction portion may be used to help breakdown the fat and seems to result in larger amounts of fat being suctioned, with potentially more firming of the skin as well.

Typically, Dr Payman Simoni does not recommend that no more than one large area or two smaller areas to be done at one time except in unusual cases.

The entire procedure may last few hours or less, depending on the areas to be suctioned.

Indications

• Liposuction is created to reduce extra local fatty deposits.

Contraindications

• Unrealistic patient expectations like expecting to lose weight.
• Poor physical health of patient
• Severely overweight patients.

The VaserShape is an alternative to current non-surgical contouring devices that use laser power, because like the Vaser surgical device, this technology uses ultrasound to affect the fat. Dr. Payman Simoni , a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, recently received this new device, and so far is impressed with the results. “My colleagues say the laser non-invasive liposuction has not been very promising. There are also radio frequency types for fat reduction but none of these are permanent. This one, which works through ultrasound  permanently reduces fat.”

As Dr. Simoni describes, there have been several evolutions in the use of ultrasound to affect fat, and we know now that it disrupts fat cells. “This one, you use ultrasound through the skin. The other types of ultrasound that we have up until now, we have to use a cannula – which is a straw like instrument that we put actually into the fat tissue and we start heating the fat tissue through that hose so it became a surgical procedure.”

The VaserShape is different because it uses two ultrasound heads that are positioned next to each other and the ultrasound energy converges like a V below the surface of the skin. This means there is only half the amount of energy going through the skin as when the two beams combine in the subcutaneous tissue. After the fat has been disrupted, the body begins absorbing it.

Dr. Simoni recommends 5-7 treatments, at about 20-30 minutes each and the treatments occur every 5-7 days. “You will see a result right away,” he says. He points out though that at first it’s only going to be a few centimeters difference. Also, he says that the speed of the results varies based on the patient. “My experience has been that people who have softer fat see the results faster and people who have a harder fat like men or very young women, the results are a little bit less noticeable and we need to spend more time on each procedure and treat more often.”

As with other body contouring devices, surgical and otherwise, this treatment is not for the extremely overweight and is not a weight loss plan. It is rather for those who are in generally good health but cannot get rid of a pocket of fat. “My ideal candidates for this procedure are healthy women or men that are fit and there are areas of the fat excess that is about 2 or 3 inches.”

There is no downtime and the procedure doesn’t hurt. “It’s very comfortable, and it feels like a massage, a warm massage. If somebody has a warm stone massage, that’s exactly how it feels. First they come in, lie on a bed, and this warm massage pad goes over the selected area and right after the person can get up and do anything they want to.”

How much does Vaser Shape cost? “The procedure costs about $500.00 per treatment, so after it’s all said and done it becomes about the same price as liposuction, maybe even less.” At 5-7 treatments it costs around $2500-$3500 total.