Liposuction no longer exists, but has been replaced by liposculpture. This is a painless procedure where local anesthesia is sufficient. The risk of skin damage and bleeding is virtually nil. Moreover, almost everyone can believe in liposculpture. Many people do it just before the summer holidays or before an important day such as a wedding.
Difference between liposuction and liposculpture
Liposuction
Liposuction is a method in which localized fat is sucked from the skin with large suction tubes of 8 mm thick. Because a lot of effort is required to extract the stiff grease, high suction power must be used. It is an outdated method that is no longer used due to its many disadvantages:
- Full anesthesia
- Hospitalization of several days
- Duration
- Damage to surrounding tissues and blood vessels
- Bruises and subcutaneous bleeding
- Only deep fat can be treated
- Uneven skin with many bumps and pits (wave plate effect) after surgery
Liposculpture
Just like with liposuction, the fat is also sucked away through tubes. However, the cannulas have become much thinner (maximum one and a half millimeters). This is possible because people have discovered how to liquefy the fat so that it can be easily sucked away. This eliminates the disadvantages of liposuction. The treatment has become virtually painless (a local anesthetic is sufficient) and hospitalization is no longer necessary. The price of a liposculpture is therefore a lot less than that of a liposuction. Because the fat is liquid, you no longer suffer from subcutaneous bleeding and damage to surrounding tissues. Most devices also have an internal safety device that ensures that the device immediately shuts down as soon as it comes into contact with skin or blood vessels. Moreover, this method can be used to treat both deep and superficial fat, so that you immediately obtain an even result.
Ultrasonic liposculpture and Vibro liposculpture
In addition to liposuction and liposculpture, several other terms are floating around, including vibro-liposculpture , lipoplasty , lipostyling , lipo-forming , soft vibro-liposculpture , ultrasonic liposculpture , laser liposculpture and vibro-vibro-liposculpture . This always involves the same technique, namely the suction of localized fat through a fine incision and small cannulas. What changes is the way the fat is liquefied. Ultrasonic liposculpture uses probes that emit high-frequency sound waves and vibro-liposculpture uses a vibrating cannula to vibrate the fatty tissue loose (low-frequency vibrations). Both have the added benefit of stimulating collagen production in the skin (provides elastic skin). Which technique is ultimately used depends on the body part to be treated and the amount of fat that needs to be removed.
Who is liposculpture for?
Liposculpture is for stubborn curves that do not want to disappear with intensive exercise and/or a slimming treatment. The fat deposits can be located on the double chin, arms, upper and lower abdomen, waist, hips, buttocks, thighs, thighs and knees. Even downright skinny people can suffer from lipodysmorphia (fat deposits in certain places) and may resort to liposculpture. Both young patients with elastic skin and older patients with sagging skin can be treated, although the results are better if the skin is firm.
Extracted fat can possibly be inserted into other places on the body (for example to have fuller buttocks or breasts or to fill dents in the body). This technique is called lipofilling or liposhifting.
Before the operation
To ensure that the liposculpture proceeds as smoothly as possible, lymphatic drainage is recommended in advance (by the physiotherapist). You can also start taking arnica gelules three days before the procedure . This is a herbal product that reduces swelling and bruising and makes them disappear faster. Just before the operation, you can also take a muscle relaxant or painkiller to reduce pain. However, never take aspirin. This thins the blood and increases the risk of internal bleeding and excessive blood loss. It is recommended to completely stop taking aspirin and other blood thinning medications two weeks before the operation. Ask your doctor for advice if you are required to take certain medications.
How does liposculpture work?
The plastic surgeon makes an incision of a few millimeters and injects an anesthetic and haemostatic solution into your subcutaneous fatty tissue. This softens the fat. It swells and detaches from the cell walls.
Almost immediately after introducing the fluid, the plastic surgeon begins to carefully suction the fat. This is virtually painless because the fat is liquid and the doctor does not have to apply pressure. The removed fat is collected in a collection cup so you can see how much fat you have lost.
Sometimes ultrasonic liposculpture or vibro-liposculpture is used. For example, a frequency of 10 Hz will ensure that the body produces endorphins (anesthetic effect) and that the fat pads mix more easily with the anesthetic fluid.
Allow 1 to 2 hours for the entire treatment. The duration depends on the amount of fat to be removed and the number of body parts to be treated. You can go home immediately after the treatment.
Anesthesia
The area to be treated is numbed just enough to make the operation painless. You can of course always choose to undergo the treatment under general anesthesia. However, do not forget that this entails some risks.
After liposculpture
After the procedure, you should rest for a few hours with your legs slightly elevated. It is possible that a little fluid will drain from the wounds, but this should normally stop after a few hours. Wait at least 24 hours before taking a shower.
Immediately after treatment, start wearing special compression clothing ( lipopanty ). Compression clothing stops the strongest swelling and should be worn continuously for two to six weeks.
To promote the healing process and deswelling, it is recommended to take arnica gelules in combination with a multivitamin treatment . Lymphatic drainage by the physiotherapist ensures that the body deswells more easily and is especially good if your cellulite is also related to fluid retention (this is usually the case with thin women with local curves).
After one week you can resume daily activities without any problems. It is best to wait a month before exercising intensively. It is also better to avoid the sun for a few weeks.
Risks and complications
Unlike the liposuction of the past, liposculpture causes few or no problems. At most, you will experience some bruising and swelling . These will disappear on their own over time. Numbness of the affected area, infections , and poor wound healing are also possible. You can easily avoid or reduce most of these problems yourself if you follow the post-surgery tips carefully.
Skin irregularities rarely occur with liposculpture. If you have severely sagging skin or if a lot of fat needs to be removed, the risk of bumps and pits is greater. Also try to avoid stopping the treatment prematurely (for example if the operation is too painful for you and you can no longer tolerate the last bit of fat being removed). However, the pain is normally well tolerated, especially if you have taken a painkiller before the operation.
Scars from liposuction are small (three to four millimeters) and are located in the natural folds of the body. So they are hardly visible.
However, modernization of technology has caused one major disadvantage. Now that liposculpture has become so easy to perform, there are a large number of general practitioners, physiotherapists and dermatologists to whom you can go for liposculpture. Although they have undergone training for this, that does not make them a plastic surgeon. More and more stories are circulating about people who have fallen into a coma and died during treatment at the GP. For example, too much injected fluid can cause pulmonary edema , coma or cardiac arrest . If something goes wrong, the patient usually dies 24 hours after treatment. Always choose a plastic surgeon instead of a general practitioner, dermatologist or physiotherapist and ask in detail about experience and training. The price tag is also a good indicator. Someone who has little experience will often be cheaper.
Results
The results of liposculpture can only be admired at least three months after the procedure. At that point all swelling has disappeared. The body has regained its harmonious shapes and cellulite has disappeared. The skin has also become firmer.
Once the fat cells have been removed from the body via liposculpture, they will not return. The body will no longer replace them. The result is therefore permanent , provided you do not gain weight because the remaining fat cells can still swell due to incorrect dietary habits. However, your curves will never return to the same size as before.
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