Liposuction Techniques

Kinds of Liposuction Techniques

There are various kinds of liposuction techniques in use. What distinguishes them from each other are two factors. These are the amount of solution injected in the subcutaneous layer of skin before the procedure and use of any other devices while performing liposuction.

Liposuction Techniques

• Tumescent Technique: By this method, a large volume of diluted local anesthesia, lidocaine and epinephrine is injected into the body area under surgery. The volume of local anesthesia is enough to make the fat under liposuction turgid or swollen and firm or tumescent. This is the only technique to be done entirely with local anesthesia. Here, blood removal is barely one percent of the fluid removed.
• Dry Technique: This technique is so called since it does not use injected local anesthesia into fat deposits before the liposuction procedure. Doing this led to excessive bleeding and so was abandoned. However, as a technique, it worked well with general anesthesia. About 30% of the tissues removed under this technique consists of blood.
• Wet Technique: Like its dry counterpart, this technique also works well with general anesthesia. Here, 100 ml of local anesthesia and epinephrine is injected into the patient’s fat deposits. Though this technique led to lesser blood loss than the dry technique, yet it was both dangerous and excessive. Using this technique, blood comprised about 15% to 20% of the tissue that was removed.
• Super Wet Technique: Along with general anesthesia, this technique also needs an injection of diluted local anesthesia which is lesser than half the volume used in the tumescent technique. This technique causes more blood loss at surgery than with the tumescent technique but considerably lesser than the wet technique. Here, blood is merely eight percent of the fluid removed.

However, since the fluids injected here are less, the risk of developing pulmonary edema in the lungs is greatly minimized. Besides, in comparison with the tumescent technique, this technique is quicker to perform.

Power Assisted Techniques (PAL): This technique uses power from an electric motor or from compressed air to produce a quick in-out movement or an attached cannula in a spinning rotationary movement. These movements make this technique easier for the surgeon to perform the procedure. Opinion is divided on the benefits and merits of this technique, so while some surgeons laud it, others are skeptical about it. Besides, objective scientific reports on this technique are still unavailable, making the claims of manufacturers of this technique all the more difficult to believe.