Laser Assisted Liposuction is one of the new techniques for liposuction. It has been popularised in Europe, China, and Japan but only recently in America. Compared to traditional liposuction, laser lipo has its pros and cons. This article is to give a balanced view so as to assist the reader in making informed choices about laser assisted liposuction.

Benefits of laser assisted liposuction

One obvious benefit of laser liposuction is the increased rate of recovery. Patents using this technique can cut to one to two days of recovery time and decreases blood loss during the procedure. In fact, some test results have shown that after surgery, patients can leave immediately or after a couple of hours. For some, they can even return to normal activity with only small discomfort. In some of the cases the subject was requested to wear a compression garment for a week.

More importantly, laser assisted liposuction also reduces the post-operative pain. In order words, you suffer less when the operation is done through laser, rather than through traditional matters. The reason is because laser assisted liposuction only targets the “yellow material”, or fat, in the body, allowing the body to absorb up to 500 mL on its own without any suction.

Finally, laser assisted liposuction can have the positive effect of tightening the skin. This means the patient need not go for other operations that are designed to ‘tuck away’ the excessive skins. Less operations mean less money and less pain.

Disadvantages of laser assisted liposuction

Laser liposuction is not really suited for large surface areas. Too large an area would mean a more intense laser with longer duration, which could result in the skins being burnt. This means people with large layers of fats need not apply. For this group of people, having a healthy diet and regular exercise is a better way to go. For laser assisted liposuction, it is more suited for the following:

• chin liposuction
• neck liposuction
• facial liposuction
• tumescent liposuction

The other disadvantage of laser assisted liposuction is its costs. This is the result of new technologies and new processes. New equipment have to bought and training has to be conducted for these new procedures. All these will drive the initial costs high. However, I expect the cost to come down over time and this disadvantage might not be relevant in a couple of years.  a result of the “minimally invasive” cannula (Hui 2008).

Conclusions

We should recognise that laser liposuction is not a magic cure for obesity. In fact, I recommend that  healthy people consider this procedure to remove fats in difficult areas.  Do bear in mind that surgery always possesses certain health risks, even though the risk factors may be low. Hence, to repeat, only if you have a well balanced diet and exercise regiment but has a couple trouble spots that won’t disappear, then the ideal solution would be laser assisted liposuction.

Laser liposuction Benefits

The best thing about laser liposuction surgery is that it is taking the suction out of the equation. In regular liposuction, a wand is placed under the skin which vibrates at very high frequency to liquefy the fat. That liquefied fat is then suck out with a small vacuum hose and discarded. If that sounds really painful and awkward, it is. Compared to how straight  laser liposuction is, traditional liposuction is a bit messy.

In laser liposuction surgery , instead of using vibration energy to liquefy the fat, light energy is used to instantly zap the fat cells. A laser, which is an intense, focused collection of light energy, is used to instantly vaporize the cells at which it is aimed. The small blood vessels that are broken and leak blood during regular liposuction are instantly cauterized by the laser during laser liposuction.

What does all that mean? Well, for one thing, there will be definitely be less bleeding and bruising with laser liposuction versus regular liposuction. People who like this approach also comments that laser actually helps to tighten the surrounding skin, meaning that laser liposuction surgery does not result in baggy, excess skin sometimes present after traditional liposuction.

Another strong benefit is that laser assisted liposuction is that it can be performed under local anesthesia rather than general anesthesia. This means that the area to be treated is completely numbed by injecting the area with an anesthetic while the patient is awake during the procedure. Patients can sit upright or stand during the laser liposuction procedure. In certain cases this is highly advantageous. For example, if belly fat is being removed, having the patient stand during the procedure will allow the surgeon to see how gravity layers the fat in the abdominal region. When the patient is standing, the surgeon can target all of the fat areas appropriately. Laser liposuction may not be for everyone.

Finally, the entire procedure for laser liposuction is relatively brief as it lasts for only 30 to 60 minutes. The recovery is quite quick, also, even compared to regular liposuction. The procedure is performed on an outpatient basis meaning the patient can arrive at and leave the office on the same day. In fact, it is not unusual for most people to  return to work after 24 hours.

Laser liposuction risks

While it is quite safe, laser assisted  liposuction is not suitable for patients with diabetes, liver or kidney problems or blood clotting problems.  Also, it is also more suitable for areas that do not contain much fat such as the inner thighs, face and neck, chin and other smaller regions. This is because laser liposuction  may not remove as much fat as the patient would like. For users who might want to remove large amounts of fats,  traditional liposuction may be more appropriate.

Updated:  Somewhat related to this.  Laser treatment for acne is also getting popular. This site has more information on acne laser treatments.

Before you go off thinking laser liposuction is a miracle drug, don’t. Results for laser liposuction before and after the surgery  are not instant. In fact, it will likely take 6 to 8 weeks for the fulls benefits of laser liposuction to be seen completely. Laser liposuction is one of the newer fat removal techniques and may offer certain advantages to traditional liposuction for some patients. For larger collections of fat, traditional liposuction may still be the best approach. Talk to your plastic surgeon to find out more about both techniques.