Entries tagged Liposuction

The truth about cellulite

It’s a disconcerting matter, but over 90% of women will develop Cellulite. There are many myths surrounding the topic, but in this article, we’ll reveal the real truth about Cellulite.

Cellulite is the term used when fatty deposits become trapped under the skin, giving it a rather unpleasant puckered and dimpled look, often compared to orange peel or cottage cheese.

Cellulite generally appears around the abdomen, thigh and pelvic area. It has four different medical names: adiposis edematosa, dermopanniculosis deformans, status protrusis cutis and gynoid lipodystrophy.

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Liposuction and the Recovery Process

Liposuction is a fantastic way to remove stubborn fatty deposits from the stomach, arms, thighs, and buttocks, and almost everywhere. It creates slimmer, firmer bodies and can enhance self-confidence and improve body image.

If you are considering liposuction, you may have many questions, one of which may be ‘What will the recovery process be like?’ It is a good idea to understand what will be required post-surgery before you start the plastic surgery procedure.

Some types of liposuction require incisions and some use just tiny holes to get to the desired area of fat. Either way, manually removing fat from your body can be a traumatic event to your system, or it will need time to heal. The more extensive the liposuction, the longer the recovery process will take.

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Liposuction and Body Contouring

Liposuction continues to the most common plastic surgery procedure all over the world, and also in India. It is basically a permanent removal of fat cells by the use of a suctioning device. It is a safe procedure, with minimum down time, and fast recovery. It has been shrouded in small controversies, and bad results, but this has been due to the procedure being done by untrained personnel, and other medicos who are not Cosmetic Surgeons. So it is important that a potential client look through the profile of their treating physician and asses really whether that person is actually capable of delivering all that he promises. Do not be led away by claims that they can remove 10 kgs or 12 kgs of fat and make you super thin. Please remember that the safe limits of liposuction are between 3-5% of the total body weight.

Procedure

The procedure involves infiltration of fluid into the areas to be liposuctioned. This has multiple benefits. It helps to loosen the fat, reduces the bleeding dramatically, and allows pain control after surgery as well. Usually I would infiltrate fluid in a ratio of 1:1 with the amount of fat that I plan to aspirate, ie, if I feel that I will aspirate about 1000 cc of fat from an area, I would like to infiltrate less than 10000 cc of the fluid in that area. I actually infiltrate much less than that, only about 0.5 :1 ratio. This has the benefit that I never face the risk of fluid overload ( potentially dangerous condition, where there is too much water in the body, and the lungs get filled with water). The other benefit is that, what is aspirated is pure fat, and not water mixed with fat. This gives an exact estimate of the amount of fat taken out. We surgeons have a bad habit of including the amount of fluid aspirated into the total volume taken out also, so that we can boast of having done large liposuctions. What is important is not the amount taken out, but how much of actual fat there is.

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Lasers – We Need to Know!

LASERS today are almost the in thing in every aspect related to beauty, but we need to understand that lasers are not magic and they need to be clearly understood by both the physician administering the laser as well as the client. Lasers have specific indications and there are over 25 different lasers for specific indications in cosmetic surgery practice. Some of the common indications are for hair removal, facial rejuvenation, birth marks, acne scar removal, correction of dark pigmentation, etc. What are the different lasers available to us? A lot of different companies market the lasers. in fact today the infamous “Chinese” tag has also been associated with lasers. A lot of Chinese products are the best in the world. But like products from every country, not everything is the best, nor it it the worst.

It is important for the clients to know details of the company of the laser and what type of laser is being used. For Hair reduction, some of the common lasers being used are ND YAG, Diode, IPL, and more recently SHR. All have their indications and limitations. Diode most closely matches the wavelength of the hair folicle pigment, melanin, but it is time taking and painful. ND YAG, tends to leave behind a lot of the finer hair. IPL is probably believed by a lot of plastic surgeons to be the most inferior of the lot.

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Tummy Tuck and Liposuction – They Are Different and Complimentary

Loose hanging skin in the region of the abdomen is very resistant to any kind of exercise. It is very distressing for the person, because it prevents wearing of proper clothes, and is visible as a hanging flab of tissue. This is particularly more common in post pregnant women, where the expanded abdominal skin fails to retract back to its normal contour. This is however less common in men.

The surgical procedure done in this condition is known as a tummy tuck or an “abdominoplasty”. A tummy tuck involves removal of the excess hanging skin along with the underlying fat to give a flat and toned abdomen. This procedure tightens the abdominal muscles and gives a new and rejuvenated abdomen. The position of the umbilicus is also shifted to a more natural position.

The scar

Patients are worried about the scar of the tummy tuck. It is reassuring to know that the scar can be placed according to the type of clothing that the patient prefers to wear, and it is not visible from under the clothing. Thus, if the patient wants to wear a particular type of bikini, we can site the scar accordingly. The scar can be shaped according to the type of jeans or dresses, which the patient may prefer. The scar is fine and tends to mature a lot over time.

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The Basics of Plastic Surgery

Published: Apr 9th, 2009 | Author: Alex Bhaswara Add Comment

Plastic surgery is becoming more and more common. There are a dozen television shows devoted to people getting plastic surgery. There are people getting plastic surgery to look younger, plastic surgery to look better, or plastic surgery to look like their favorite movie star. But plastic surgery is serious business, and this overview can help you decide If it is right for you.

The most popular plastic surgery is liposuction. This is a surgery that removes fat from beneath the skin using a large vacuum. A small cut is made into the skin of the fatty area. A thin tube attached to a vacuum is then placed under the skin. Fluid is often pumped into the skin to deaden nerves and make the fat easier to remove. Vaccuum liposuction isn’t the only option though. There is also ultrasound liposuction that does not require any incisions. That makes recovery much easier and does not leave any scars like the vacuum procedure.

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Laser Liposuction – Understanding How it Works

Published: Apr 8th, 2009 | Author: Alex Bhaswara Add Comment

Laser liposuction, otherwise known as laser lipolysis, laser-assisted lipolysis or Smartlipo, is a new method of liposuction using laser technology. In traditional liposuction, significant force to disrupt the tissue that holds the fat together is needed to free it up. Almost everyone has seen on TV or videos of how the procedure is performed and few would doubt that the traditional approach is fairly traumatic. Effective, but traumatic. With Smartlipo, the required mechanical force is reduced by the heating or melting of the fat.

Fat is a unique tissue in that it is really globs of lipid (triglycerides) surrounded and encased in strands of connective tissue. To no surprise, fat has a fair amount of water in it which is very relevant in laser liposuction but largely unimportant in traditional liposuction. Fat is roughly 25% water. Running through the fat are small blood vessels and lymphatic channels. Some fat areas have globules that are quite big (’buttery fat”) and other fat areas have smaller globules with a lot of connective tissue. (’gritty fat’) Gritty fat, such as in the upper abdomen or back, takes a lot more force to break it up and be suctioned out.

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The Skinny on Fat Stores Reduction: Rid Yourself of Troublesome Fat, and Get a Whole Lot Healthier in the Process

Published: Apr 6th, 2009 | Author: Alex Bhaswara Add Comment

As the body ages, fat begins to find its way to places not so much of our choosing. If you’ve been battling problem fat areas on your hips, stomach or even back, the good news is that yes, it is possible to make those problem spots go away.

Here are three basic steps to saying goodbye to troublesome bulges:

Lose weight if necessary: Find out from your doctor how close you are to your ideal weight and whether you’re carrying excess fat. Using the body mass index (BMI) provides a reliable indication of both. If you do find that you need to lose fat, a recent two-year study suggests focusing on a low-carb diet where you derive the bulk of your fat from healthy vegetable and fish sources (as opposed to the Atkins-style bacon-on-lettuce routine) will put you squarely on the road to reduction. And, as an added benefit, as you lose fat throughout your body, including from your stomach and around your organs, you reduce your risk for all sorts of nasties ranging from heart disease to diabetes. You know you can’t go wrong improving your diet, and you’ll lay the groundwork for fixing those problem areas.

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Liposuction Surgery Risks

Published: Apr 1st, 2009 | Author: Alex Bhaswara Add Comment

During the liposuction surgery, fat cells are removed from beneath the skin. Many experts warn liposuction is not a solution for obesity and should not be a part of anybody’s weight loss plan. While it is a relatively safe procedure and medical advances have limited much of the risk of surgical complications, any surgery must be carefully considered before proceeding as no procedure is perfect and there will always be a small chance of complications.

Skin irregularities, hematomas and seromas, hyper-pigmentation are some minor complications most commonly experiences. Patients need to be aware of the possible consequences of liposuction surgery.

Skin irregularities occur when too many of the fat cells are removed resulting in dimples and grooves in the skin. We all naturally have fat stores and areas that have too many fat cells will look abnormal. It’s always safer to have your surgeon remove too little fat in the first run and do touch up sessions. Once fat cells are taken out, they cannot be replaced.

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Which Type of Plastic Surgery Procedures Are Available ?

Published: Apr 1st, 2009 | Author: Alex Bhaswara Add Comment

In the old days, when a person had something about their physical appearance that they wanted to change, unless it was weight loss there was very little that they could actually do about it. Nowadays, thanks to medical technology, people who know that their self esteem would be much improved if they could change something about their physical appearance that was bothering them have more options.

Specifically, these people become candidates for an overall category of procedures that are known as plastic surgery. The role of this kind of surgery has become more prevalent in various areas of society, particularly in fields where the patients are often in the public eye. However, to think that those are the only kinds of people who have plastic surgery done is a misconception. Instead, there are people from many different backgrounds who have this kind of surgery done.

One of the most commonly done forms of plastic surgery is rhinoplasty, also know as a nose job. This is a procedure in which the nose, which is primarily composed of cartilage, is restructured so that it is more balanced with the features of the face. Usually, the corrections have something to do with minimizing bumps on the nose, or the overall size of the nose minimized.

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