What is Laser Liposuction?

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says liposuction, also known as lipoplasty, is a surgical procedure that involves the removal of excess fat from specific areas of the body. Vacuuming fat through tiny incisions matches that description of removal. The trocar, the awake plan, the oral medicine, the local anesthetic, and the heat that melts fat are this page's own account, not that sentence.

® by Elite Body Sculpture uses laser energy. Points of differentiation in online descriptions include:

• That it is performed while the patient is awake
• That it is performed without a scalpel
• Less bruising, easier recovery

But is this unique or simply a way with words?

The brand line is incomplete on the page, and it stays incomplete. Elite Body Sculpture is named only as the user of laser energy. The three points that follow are awake treatment, no scalpel, and less bruising with an easier recovery. The page then asks whether those points are unique or simply a way with words.

• Other traditional liposuction methods can also be done with twilight or awake anesthesia.

Awake treatment and twilight anesthesia are therefore not reserved for the laser method. The page says other traditional liposuction methods can also be done that way. Being awake is one of the advertised points, and it is also a point the page refuses to treat as unique.

Instead of using a scalpel to open a tiny opening for a liposuction port, Laser Liposuction uses a sharp instrument called a trocar, a sharp-pointed surgical instrument fitted with a cannula to get through the skin. A porthole is necessary to introduce suction cannulas like all surgeons doing liposuction. From the patient’s perspective, there is no difference between using a scalpel or a trocar.

The instrument is the claimed difference, and the page withdraws it. A trocar is defined here as a sharp-pointed surgical instrument fitted with a cannula. A scalpel is the instrument it is said to replace. A porthole is still required for the suction cannulas. From the patient’s perspective, the hole is the same kind of opening either way.

• The claim that Laser Liposuction has less bruising and an easier recovery is questionable (we discuss below). The website does not offer substantive information to justify this claim.

The questionable label belongs to this page. It says the website does not offer substantive information to justify less bruising and an easier recovery. A later sentence says other types of liposuction can achieve minimal bruising and ease of recovery. The claim is doubted here, and a mild recovery is later granted to other methods. Both sentences stay.

Laser Liposuction is often billed as non-surgical and “minimally invasive.” In reality, any cutting method is a surgical procedure, and this technique does require tiny holes in the skin when it is performed. This technique is traumatic to the skin because the fat is sucked out directly without the bonds between fat cells being broken. Soft tissue scarring is not unrealistic with this technique since heat is being used to melt the fat.

Any cutting method is called a surgical procedure here, including a method that uses tiny holes. The non-surgical billing and the minimally invasive billing are quoted so they can be refused. Heat is the reason soft tissue scarring is not unrealistic. The fat is sucked out directly, and the bonds between fat cells are described as unbroken before that suction. That direct suction is the reason the page calls the technique traumatic to the skin.

Laser Lipo body contouring claims it is a minimally invasive and effective procedure for minor fat removal. Instead of using a knife and surgical incision like liposuction, the laser method uses a trocar cannula. The wound heals a mark like a freckle or natural skin imperfection, but there will still be a surgical incision scar.

Although web pages tout Laser Liposuction as a standard liposuction technique, it can only accomplish mid- definition at best as fat extraction can only be accomplished minimally. Liposuction needs to be done more comprehensively to unveil muscle definition and shaping. For example, a patient wanting liposculpture could not get actual body sculpting or dramatic results with this technique.

Minor fat removal is the advantage the page is willing to grant. Comprehensive removal is what it says is required to unveil muscle definition and shaping. A patient wanting liposculpture is the example of someone who could not get actual body sculpting or dramatic results from this technique. Mid- definition, with the space left after the hyphen, is the ceiling named here. The page does not convert that ceiling into a measured volume of fat.

The patient being awake means limited fat removal and potentially suboptimal results. Compared to VASER liposuction, performed under general anesthesia, the results are night and day for contouring. Much more significant amounts of fat are removed with VASER, and at the same time, more healthy fat is harvested for transfer to the buttocks or breasts. Although your surgeon must be more focused and takes longer surgical times, VASER liposuction allows for accurate body sculpting and muscle unveiling.

No hour count is given for those longer surgical times. The contrast that is given is qualitative: night and day, more fat removed, and more healthy fat harvested for transfer to the buttocks or breasts. Staying awake is tied to limited fat removal and potentially suboptimal results. The surgeon being more focused is part of the same comparison, not a separate protocol.