Overview of the Different Types of Liposuction Techniques

Before choosing liposuction, ask about options.

Liposuction may be popular these days but most are clueless regarding the techniques and how the procedure is done. Ask ten potential patients about what type of liposuction they are to undergo and most probably, nine of them don’t know what to answer.

Most people know that liposuction is a weight loss procedure and that’s about it – and what makes it worse is that such assumption is not entirely correct. Contrary to what most people believe, liposuction is not a weight loss procedure. Despite the fact that fat is removed from the body, medical experts don’t consider liposuction as a weight loss procedure.

More technically, liposuction is a procedure that aims to reshape and remodel one’s body figure. Liposuction is designed to improve body contour not cut down your weight – although it does.

There are a lot of things that you should look into before undergoing a liposuction procedure such as the cosmetic surgeon or the hospital you’re dealing with, the area where the procedure will be applied and of course, the type of liposuction technique.

The cosmetic surgeon or the hospital should be licensed and certified to ensure the safety of the procedure while the body area should be an area that really needs a liposuction procedure. On the other hand, the type of liposuction procedure is not that easy to decide on.

There are various types of liposuction procedures which are all based on the amount of fluid injection and the mechanism in which the cannula works.

One of the most basic types of liposuction is the dry liposuction. From the name itself, dry liposuction is a liposuction technique that does not use liquid. Dry liposuction is performed more often than the other types of liposuction procedures.

Another type of liposuction procedure is the suction-assisted liposuction or simply SAL. This type of liposuction is the standard method used in most liposuction procedures. In this method, a small cannula is inserted through a small incision – the aftermath of which is breaking up and the immediate suction of fat cells out of the patient’s body.

Ultrasound-assisted liposuction or UAL is a type of liposuction procedure that is considered as more advanced than SAL. Under this procedure, a specialized cannula is used. This specialized cannula transmits ultrasound vibrations within the patient’s body.

Power-assisted liposuction or PAL is another type of liposuction procedure. PAL is quite similar to SAL, the mere difference being only that the cannula used in PAL has a mechanized movement unlike in SAL wherein the cosmetic surgeon needs to make manual movements to operate.

The type of liposuction procedure that best suits you depends on your needs and your situation. Thus, it’s imperative that you deal only with licensed and certified cosmetic surgeons.

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