Liposuction Safety

Safety First

Dr. Wright specializes in the Tumescent Technique, which uses a local anesthetic. This differs from other forms of liposuction which require a general anesthetic. The safety benefits of this difference are many: Patients have never required hospitalization or blood transfusions, nor have there been any infections or other serious complications.

Additionally, patients under local anesthesia are awake and comfortable during surgery. They are able to move, which allows Dr. Wright to refine the surgery and make sure it has been as effective as it can be. Patients can move and show the doctor different body angles. This enables the doctor to gauge progress in real time and maximizes its effectiveness.

The surgery is also gentler with local anesthesia, resulting in less discomfort for the patient. Dr. Wright, using extremely small microcannulas for the procedure, can be much more precise and accurate. Since the patient is awake, both the doctor and the patient would be aware if the procedure was not comfortable. Having alert patient feedback makes for a gentler session.

Tumescent Technique Is Less Painful Than General Anesthesia

Some patients have had liposuction by another surgeon using general anesthesia prior to having liposuction by the Tumescent Technique. Virtually every one of these patients has said that liposuction by the Tumescent Technique is dramatically less painful. Once the area of liposuction has been completely numbed, surgery in the area is essentially painless. In addition, because the local anesthesia persists in the treated area for more than 12 hours, there is no pain immediately after the surgery.

There are surgeons who simultaneously use general anesthesia and the Tumescent Technique. This obviously adds significant risk to the surgery. Their reasons are various: Some rely on general anesthesia because they do not have the skill to achieve complete anesthesia with the Tumescent Technique, others recommend general anesthesia just because they prefer patients to be unconscious. Still others use general anesthesia because it permits liposuction to be finished rapidly, which allows for more procedures to be done on the same patient and or more patients.

The use of general anesthesia really should not be based on what’s most convenient or profitable for the surgeon, but rather what’s best for the patient. Ultimately, the patient should choose the type of anesthesia after weighing the options.

Risks of Any Surgery

As with any surgical procedure, liposuction is associated with certain common side-effects such as bruising, swelling and temporary numbness. Although irregularities of the skin are possible following liposuction, this side-effect is minimized by the Tumescent Technique. When using larger cannula occasionally there were patients with an irregularity of the skin. Since using micro cannula, noticeable irregularities are very rare.

The ultimate results following liposuction usually require 12 to 16 weeks to become fully apparent. Nevertheless, patients can usually see dramatic improvements within two to four weeks after surgery.

Although the results of liposuction are often quite spectacular, it is not realistic to expect perfection. Liposuction of the thighs, while improving the silhouette, does not necessarily eliminate the subtle “puckering” of the skin that is often referred to as “cellulite.” Liposuction with the Tumescent Technique does reduce the degree of cellulite but it is unlikely to eliminate it.

As evidenced by current world-wide experience, liposuction is amazingly safe. To the best of our knowledge and as of this date, there have never been any reported serious complications using the Tumescent Technique for liposuction using local anesthesia.

Rare problems that can potentially occur with any surgical procedure include infections, bleeding and nerve injury. The Tumescent Technique minimizes these risks.

Risks of General Anesthesia

We do not use general anesthesia. The drugs that are used to produce general anesthesia are relatively dangerous compared to those used for local anesthesia. It is estimated that fatal complications associated with general anesthesia occur somewhere in the neighborhood between 1 in every 2,500 patients to 1 in every 10,000 patients. The severe complications associated with general anesthesia are eliminated as serious risk factors just by not using these medications. It is well recognized that local anesthesia is considerably safer than general anesthesia.

Is An Anesthesiologist Necessary?

We do not require the services of an anesthesiologist. Anesthesiologists are specially trained to use dangerous anesthetic drugs. Even with this expert training, dangers of general anesthesia persist. The safest approach is simply to avoid using these drugs altogether. An anesthesiologist is not necessary when dangerous general anesthetic drugs are not used, and when local anesthesia is the only anesthetic.

Risks of Liposuction

Risks of liposuction must be well understood by all prospective liposuction patients. This web site emphasizes the need to constantly be aware of safety issues. In order to minimize the risk of liposuction, the patient must be aware of the following facts:

Too much liposuction is an excessive volume of aspirated fat, or an excessive number of areas treated. Excessive surgical trauma (excessive liposuction) is dangerous and is an important cause for serious liposuction complications.

Unrelated surgical procedures on the same day as liposuction are unnecessary. Prolonged exposure to anesthesia is dangerous and is an important cause for serious liposuction complications.

Disfiguring skin irregularities and depressions are frequently the result of the surgeon’s inattention to detail. For example, if a liposuction surgeon attempts to do too much on a single day, and becomes fatigued, the result may be an inattention to detail, and undesirable cosmetic results.

The size of the liposuction cannula can influence the smoothness of the skin after liposuction. The use of large cannula tend to create irregularities more commonly than microcannulas (outside diameter less than 3mm). Dr Wright use only microcannulas, to perform liposuction, this technique is often referred to microliposuction.