The Power of 'Power Liposuction'
March 5, 2001 -- Using a “power tool” to suck out fat during liposuction has people leaving operating rooms quicker and less bruised, according to the first study of the “energized” method.
In a multi-center study of 90 patients, researchers found surgeons using power liposuction could remove more fat in a shorter period of time in 80 percent of the patients compared to traditional liposuction.
Surgeons were able to remove the fat 30 percent faster, the researchers say.
Patients who underwent power liposuction on one part of their body and manual liposuction on the other side also had less bruising on the power side.
Although “power-assisted liposuction” has been around since 1999, this is the first study to quantify its benefits compared to traditional liposuction, the researchers say.
Fat Breaks Up and Gets Sucked Out
Traditional liposuction, used by most plastic surgeons in the country, relies on the surgeon making an incision in the area under question, and then using his own physical effort to push and thrust a thin tube, called a cannula, through tissues to extract excess fat. A vacuum then sucks up the fat.
Power-assisted liposuction involves a mechanical tube that moves back and forth at around 3,000 to 5,000 movements per minute within the fat, making it easier to break it up and suction out. The frictional motion makes it easier for the surgeon to plow through the fat.
More than 230,000 liposuction procedures are performed in the United States each year, to recontour parts of the body, such as thighs, buttocks, abdomens and chins, so they have less fat. Sometimes, surgeons remove fat from one area of the body and put it someplace else.
More Precise Than Manual
The results were being presented today at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in Washington, DC.
“The micro-movements of power assisted liposuction is far more precise than could ever be achieved manually,” according to lead study author Dr. William Coleman, clinical professor of dermatology at Tulane School of Medicine, in New Orleans, in a written statement.
“This allows dermatologic surgeons to sculpt areas of excess fat more precisely and it is particularly useful in areas which were traditionally harder to sculpt, such as inner thighs, breasts and around the belly button.”
Commenting on the study, Dr. Martin Moskowitz, of the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, called the increased fat removal rate “significant,” translating into a 10 percent to 30 percent decrease in time spent in the operating room.
Dr. Gerld Pitman, a clinical associate professor of plastic surgery at New York University Medical Center, also uses power liposuction as his method of choice. “It is the best method with the fewest complications,” Pitman said.
Another liposuction method relies on an ultrasound probe moving back and forth 20,000 times per second using sound waves to break up the fat and then a cannula for its removal. But it has some disadvantages, according to Pitman. The probe is larger and requires a bigger incision and it can burn skin with its high energy, he says.