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Dr. Broder: Hello, I am Dr. Lawrence Broder M.D., owner and medical director of Beliza
Medical Spa with offices in Austin and Round Rock, TX. I would like to take a few minutes
to discuss the Smartlipo Laser Liposuction procedure with you and answer the common questions
that we are presented with. What is Smartlipo Laser Liposuction? Smartlipo
refers to a laser that is produced by a company named Cynosure. What is a laser? A laser is
a device that produces a single wavelength of light. The wavelength of light of the Smartlipo
machine is designed for specifically the purpose of tightening the skin and melting fat. What
is the difference between Smartlipo and traditional liposuction? Traditional liposuction usually
involves going to the operating room and having general anesthetic. General anesthesia is
usually the riskiest part of the procedure. Smartlipo, however, involves the use tumescent
anesthesia. The difference is that tumescent anesthesia
is administered in the office. This is a local anesthetic. The local anesthetic consists
of lidocane and epinephrine. It is infused under your skin through very small incisions.
The lidocane provides anesthesia for your skin and fat and the epinephrine constricts
blood vessels leading to a bloodless procedure. This tumescent anesthesia actually makes the
procedure possible and actually makes it a safer procedure. Since your skin and fat are
numb, you feel no pain. However, your muscle wall and lower layers of tissues, such as
your abdominal wall, will still have sensation. This makes it safer, since we cannot inadvertently
hurt anything deeper than where we are working. Also, in contrast to traditional liposuction,
we use what is called microcannulas. Traditional liposuction cannulas can be anywhere from
six to eight millimeters in diameter. These are designed for use in the operating room,
where as you are under general anesthetic, time is of the essence. They are used for
rapid removal of fat. This could lead to irregularities. The cannulas that we use to suction fat are
actually smaller, as they are called microcannulas and around the diameter of two to four millimeters.
These cannulas actually allow us to do a finer job of actually doing sculpting.
We take more time to do the procedure, however, we tend to get better results and have less
irregularities than traditional liposuction. We have even taken patients that have had
traditional liposuction, with irregularities, and repaired their defects.
How does the procedure work? After the installation of the tumescent fluid into the fat, we wait
approximately a half hour. This allows us to develop a profound anesthesia. Once we
have determined that we have achieved the appropriate anesthetic affect, we begin the
procedure. The first part of the procedure involves Smartlipo.
We use the small Smartlipo catheter and place it under the skin through the incisions that
we already have made. We use that at that point to begin the skin-tightening passes.
As the laser passes under the skin it heats the lower layers of the skin. This causes
some immediate contraction of collagen under the skin and then also stimulates the skin
cells. The skin cells will begin in the next several weeks to months to produce more collagen
and more skin tightening. We then place the Smartlipo fiber in the deeper layers of fat.
At this point, the Smartlipo laser is used to melt fat. As we pass it through the fat,
we can actually hear the fat cells explode and liquefy. We continue to do this until
we get some good contours and we actually see fat returning from the incisions.
Once we have achieved a good amount of laser of the skin and fat, we then begin the aspiration.
We use the microcannulas we talked about before, to begin to suction the fat. As we suction
the fat, we can keep track of the contours of your body. We can even have you stand up.
That is also another advantage over traditional liposuction, as you are asleep in the operating
room, you cannot stand up. However, we can stand you up and check our results and continue
to work on any problem areas. This is a tremendous advantage, since you will judge the results
and be judged as you are standing, not as you are lying on an operating table.
Once we feel we have achieved the results that we set out to obtain, the procedure is
then completed. The small incisions that we made at the beginning of the procedure are
left open. These will act as drains for the next several days, to allow that anesthetic
fluid and melted fat to drain from the area that we worked on. The faster that this fluid
drains, the faster that you will recover. How many treatments does it take to get good
results? Smartlipo Laser Liposuction is designed to be a one-time treatment. We laser your
skin and we remove the fat during the procedure. When you leave the procedure, the fat that
we removed is off your body. It is no longer there. You can still gain weight, the weight
will go to other areas of your body, but you will probably not gain weight at that area
we worked on. If necessary, in the future, we can always do touch up treatments as needed.
What areas can be treated? Smartlipo Laser Liposuction is safe to use on almost every
area of the body. Common areas are the abdomen, the flanks, the buttocks, the thighs, the
arms, and under the chin and neck. However, we can access a fatty area on almost any part
of the body safely. Several areas of the body can be combined in one treatment session.
However, we have to be aware of the risks of giving too much lidocane, and the time
of the procedure. There is a maximum amount of lidocane in the tumescent anesthetic that
we can give you in one sitting. If we go over this, we must stop the procedure. It is safer
that we sometimes split up the body areas into different sessions. If the procedure
takes over several hours in length, most procedures are usually around three hours in length and
we also defer to another procedure since this will be more comfortable for you.
What is the recovery period? The traditional recovery period of Smartlipo Laser Liposuction
is usually three to four days. You will have significant swelling and drainage for the
first several days. The drainage ceases as the incisions heal. The incisions are not
sutured and heal on their own. You are put on some antibiotics after the procedure to
help prevent infection. You are also given pain medicine after the procedure to prevent
any unwanted pain after the procedure. The good thing with the tumescent anesthesia is
that you are numb as you go home from the procedure. However, you will feel pain later.
Most patients can go back to work within three to four days of their procedure and resume
normal activities within the first week. How do I choose a Smartlipo Laser Liposuction
surgeon? That is a difficult question. There are many people doing this procedure. I feel
the best strategy is to do your homework. Research the doctor, look at his results,
meet the doctor in person, and discuss what your needs are, and how he can help you. He
should be able to produce pictures of patients and actual results and explain the procedure
and answer your questions thoroughly. I hope I have been able to help answer some
of the common questions regarding the Smartlipo Laser Liposuction. I encourage you to call
us and make a consultation with either me or one of my nurses. Our consultations are
always free. We will be happy to discuss every aspect of this procedure and show you our
own before-and-after pictures. Please make sure to do your homework before this procedure,
to know what you are getting into and to know how to choose the appropriate physician to
perform the procedure. Thank you.