Tumescent Liposuction in St. Louis

Development Of The Tumescent Technique

Although liposuction for the permanent removal of fat is a relatively new form of cosmetic surgery, there have been recent improvements in the technique. One of the most significant has been the introduction of the Tumescent Technique, developed by Dr. Jeffrey A. Klein, M.D.

It permits liposuction totally by local anesthesia instead of general anesthesia. The Tumescent Technique is now considered the safest form of liposuction for removing very large amounts of fat because the procedure is so gentle and because there is virtually no blood loss. Not only has it proven to be safer than the standard technique using general anesthesia but it also has proven to be less painful, it has minimized post operative recovery time, and it has produced optimal cosmetic results.

The Tumescent Technique was first presented by Dr. Klein in 1986 at the Second World Congress of Liposuction Surgery. His article that first described the technique appeared in the American Journal of Cosmetic Surgery in 1987. In 2007, Dr. Wright received training from Dr. Klein in the use of the Tumescent Technique.

Liposuction Without General Anesthesia

Over the years, numerous patients who previously had liposuction with general anesthesia had second treatments with the Tumescent Technique. Virtually every patient found the Tumescent Technique to be less painful, to provide better results and to give more rapid healing and recovery.

The word tumescent means ‘swollen and firm.’ The Tumescent Technique uses large volumes of a dilute solution of lidocaine, which is a local anesthetic, in combination with the vasoconstrictive drug epinephrine, which temporarily shrink capillaries.

Local anesthesia used in the Tumescent Technique for liposuction is so effective that patients no longer need genera anesthesia, intravenous sedatives, or narcotic analgesics. This is another benefit of the Tumescent Technique: Patients are awake and can move during the procedure. This allows the doctor to have the patient shift positions so effectiveness can be evaluated real-time and refinements can be made to the area. This makes the removal procedure extremely accurate and effective.

Since the patient is awake, the doctor is necessarily gentler during the procedure. This benefits the patient greatly in the recovery period, when bruising and swelling would normally be a problem. These are minimized by the nature of the procedure.

A Better Technique

The epinephrine in the anesthetic solution causes capillary constriction, so there is minimal bleeding during and after surgery. This is a major improvement in the liposuction technique compared to older methods that simply use general anesthesia.

Recently, a number of surgeons who use general anesthesia have begun to use the Tumescent Technique together with general anesthesia. Although these patients still must endure the risks and unpleasant side effects of general anesthesia, they do have the benefits of minimal blood loss associated with the Tumescent Technique.