Vaser Lipo Pros and Cons

The technology is proprietary. It was introduced in 2004, which is well over a decade ago, for a more comprehensive and more controlled removal of fat. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons describes liposuction as removal of fat to change contour. The ultrasound step is what is added here before that removal. The same step is what VASER high definition liposuction uses when the goal is muscle shape rather than a simple debulk.

The debate was sharp in the years after that 2004 introduction. The advantages and the injuries were both real, and they belonged to different generations of the machine. VASER lipo pros and cons are easier to read once those generations are separated.

The advantages listed for the technique are these.

• Comprehensive fat removal
• Ability to create natural shadows and unveil muscle highlights
• Ease of healthy fat removal
• Capacity to correct prior liposuction deformities
• Capacity to remove scar tissue
• Less discomfort to the patient

Comprehensive removal is the result of melting the fat first, so more of it can be suctioned, including fat that sits where a cannula alone does not pass freely. Natural shadows and muscle highlights are the sculpting use of that removal. The photograph is a high-definition treatment of the abdomen, flanks, and lower back, with fat grafting to the buttocks, done to correct contour irregularities from an earlier contouring procedure. That correction of a prior deformity is one of the listed uses. Scar tissue is another listed use: the ultrasound is used to work through scar that a standard suction pass handles poorly.

Ease of healthy fat removal is the list's name for cavitation that frees fat from vessels and nerves before the suction. Because the fat is liquid when it is suctioned, the cannula is pulling liquid rather than solid clusters. That is the basis given for less discomfort and for easier removal. Comprehensive removal is the claim that more of the fat can be taken once it is liquid. Muscle highlights and natural shadows depend on that more complete removal. Correcting a prior deformity and working through scar tissue are further uses of the same ultrasound. Less discomfort is a feature of melting the fat before it is pulled. It is not a statement that the operation is painless. 4D high definition liposuction and abdominal etching are the sculpting end of that advantage. High definition liposuction is the broader name for that sculpting.

The disadvantages listed alongside those advantages are these.

• Skin compromise with endpoint burns and entry-hole injury
• High learning curve
• Need for serial postoperative lymphatic massage
• Propensity for seromas

First-generation and second-generation machines had endpoint burns and entry-hole injuries. Endpoint burns on those machines were tied to the probe's inability to detect thermal peaks. A safety mechanism on them turned the ultrasound off if the wand was not moving. Those burns and entry-hole injuries are the early cons.

Third-generation machines, introduced after 2010, shut the ultrasound off automatically when they need to. Port protectors eliminated the entry-hole injuries. The same generation's safety features eliminated the endpoint burns. With training, the remaining burn risk during surgery is described as dramatically lower. VASER lipo pros and cons from the early machines are not the list that applies to a third-generation device used by someone who has been trained on it.

Solta Medical, the company that makes the technology, requires training for physicians who buy the third-generation machines. The learning curve is still high. Training is what makes the operation one that can be done proficiently. It does not make the curve flat. The 2004 machines and the machines from after 2010 are not the same device. The later shutoff and the port protectors are what removed the endpoint burns and the entry-hole injuries. They did not remove the seroma risk, the massage series, or the learning curve.

Liposuction of the abdomen, flanks, and lower back with fat grafting to the buttocks. Corrected contour irregularities created from prior contouring procedures

The photographs show the abdomen, the flanks, and the lower back after high-definition liposuction, with fat grafted to the buttocks to fill irregularities left by an earlier procedure. That result is an example of the correction use. The seroma risk and the training requirement still apply to a case of that kind.