What I Learned as a Doctor and as a Patient
When I became a cosmetic surgeon in 1983, liposuction was the most exciting and popular cosmetic surgery procedure ever. It seemed to offer a quick fix for just about everybody: the chubby, the obese, the cellulite-afflicted, the disproportioned, even athletes. As with every wonder-cure, it usually takes years to refine the procedure and understand its limits. Dr Jeff Klein, a California dermatologic surgeon, introduced the first major advance in the mid-80’s: the tumescent technique. Injecting large volumes of dilute local anaesthetic into fat, prior to removing it, not only allowed liposuction to be performed under local anaesthesia, but also improved fat harvesting, expanded the target areas and decreased patient discomfort and post-op risk. Yet liposuction was still far from perfect.
As a doctor, I felt it was being promoted as a panacea for too wide
a range of problems, resulting in disappointed (and sometimes deformed)
patients.
• liposuction is not a treatment for obesity. The
removal of large volumes of fat is not only dangerous, it leaves excess
hanging skin. Similarly, because it does not tighten skin, liposuction
is not an appropriate treatment for very large areas. Removing litres
of fat can create an unsightly apron of skin. The proper surgical
treatment for large bellies is a tummy tuck (removal of fat and
excision of excess skin at the same time) and it should not be
undertaken taken lightly - this is major surgery with longer general
anaesthesia, more medical risks, a prolonged recovery period,
discomfort and the possibility of long, wide scars.
• liposuction
is not a treatment for cellulite. Cellulite represents excess, engorged
fat cells stored within a honeycomb structure of fibrous tissue below
the skin. Because it is impossible for an equal amount of fat to be
removed by suction from each “room” of the honeycomb, liposuction can
leave cellulite areas more irregular than before treatment.
•
removing fat cells from one area of the body doesn’t guarantee that fat
is gone for good. Regular exercise and good nutrition are still
required. A couch potato will first accumulate fat in areas adjacent to
the liposuction site and ultimately fat cells will repopulate the
surgical area. Lazy abdominal liposuction patients soon notice
increased thickness in love handles, low back, bra-line and pubic areas.
As a surgeon, I knew the distinct medical risks and downsides to the procedure.
•
aggressive liposuction is cosmetically risky. With large cannulas and
powerful suction machines, it takes a fraction of a second of poor
judgement to remove too much fat from an area, creating gouges, grooves
and irregularities.
• liposuction requires not only technical skill,
but also surgical artistry. The ability to visualize what a body should
look like after recontouring and then to consistently achieve that goal
is the hallmark of a gifted cosmetic surgeon. Your result depends in
large part on the surgeon you choose.
• large, sharp cannulas used
with aggressive technique can dislodge pieces of fat, push them into
the bloodstream and ultimately into the lungs, causing life-threatening
fat emboli.
• constrictive post-operative garments worn for weeks, plus immobility, predisposes to blood clots in the legs and lungs.
Understanding those concerns, I myself chose to undergo liposuction in the mid-nineties and only then learned first-hand the ground zero problems with liposuction from the patient’s perspective. For 2 weeks after surgery, I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t look at red meat. I had to wear an uncomfortable abdominal binder 24 hours a day for 2 months and was prohibited from exercising during that time. Noticeable swelling and tenderness persisted for 6 months post-op. I was really irked at paying thousands of dollars to suffer! There had to be a better way to balance vanity with sanity–more predictable results, less discomfort, inconvenience, downtime and risk – and I became determined to find it.
Through many years of research I’ve developed a minimally invasive
form of liposuction and in 2003 I introduced Infusion Lipolysis and my
new Mini-Lipo to Toronto patients. I believe it represents a
significant advance in patient comfort and safety. The key is
gentleness. A Mini-Lipo is quite different from traditional
liposuction. Under local anaesthesia, I slowly remove about half the
fat cell volume of traditional liposuction by hand, using only syringe
suction and fine cannulas. Then, I shrink the remaining, engorged fat
cells to normal size and tighten overlying skin, over the course of
weeks, with Infusion Lipolysis. The cosmetic result of these combined
procedures appears to be at least equivalent to that of traditional
liposuction with added benefits;
• no downtime; patients exercise after their procedure and continue with normal activity and work routine the next day.
• minimal discomfort, swelling or bruising compared to traditional liposuction.
• minimal inconvenience; the patient wears a light body slimmer for only 2 weeks.
• fewer surgical and cosmetic risks.
• skin tightening and smoothing (which doesn’t occur with traditional liposuction).
• a rapid shape change within 2 weeks, then a more gradual recontouring over the course of the next 8 weeks;
• no surgical incisions, sutures or heavy binders, so no one need know.
• long-term sustainable results, obtained by combining an activity/nutrition program with transdermal maintenance medications.
Infusion Lipolysis is also a stand-alone treatment for areas of exercise-resistant fat, particularly post-partum tummies, love handles and cellulite. You can combine the Mini-Lipo with Infusion Lipolysis for saddlebags (outer thighs), hip rolls, larger tummies and love handles. Either way, you’ll need only one minimally invasive office procedure lasting approximately an hour, followed by 10 weeks home application of medications formulated in transdermal creams. There are no ‘machines’ involved. Patients really appreciate the convenience of not needing repeat office treatments.
The Mini-Lipo is meant to be a refinement to, rather than a replacement for, conventional liposuction. It’s geared for people who desire a rapid, visible recontouring but would never undergo the inconvenience and risks of conventional liposuction. It is ideal for smaller areas where traditional liposuction is ‘overkill’, like saddlebags and love handles. It can used it to improve irregular liposuction or tummy tuck results. In short, the Mini-Lipo is the kind of liposuction I would have undergone myself, had it been available ten years ago.
Further information and before-and-after photos can be found at www.lipidoctor.com.
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