Liposculpture - an Introduction
Liposuction or, more specifically, tumescent liposculture, is a technique to safely and permanently remove excess fat cells from targeted parts of the body.
Every year, New Zealanders spend millions of dollars on dieting, exercise and attempts to attain slimmer, more attractive figures.
The truth of the matter is that despite careful dieting and sweating it out in a gym, few people genetically have a perfect shape.
Most of us have a tendency to accumulate pockets of fat in undesirable places. In women, this is usually the outer thighs (saddle bags), bottom (“banana roll”), or tummy. Men, on the other hand, often have spare flesh on the hips (love handles) and abdomen.
Our distribution of fat is determined by puberty. After this time no further fat cells are produced unless there is massive weight gain.
As we gain weight, the fat cells expand and when we lose weight, the fat cells contract. However, the proportion of fat in one area compared to another does not change.
A woman who loses too much weight to make her legs look slimmer may find her breasts disappear and her face looks haggard and drawn. Paradoxically in some ladies who diet to lose weight, while they lose fat on their upper body they put weight on their lower body. This produces the so-called “half and half figure”, which gives rise to normal upper body, but heavy lower body.
The most successful way to alter our shape is to selectively remove fat from an unwanted spot such as thighs or tummy. Once removed, these fat cells cannot regrow or be replaced. Liposculpture is the only method of achieving this without producing obvious scars.
Tumescent Liposculpture With Micro Cannulas
Liposculpture was first developed in the late 1970s to remove undesired body fat. The technique was first developed in France. In the early 1980s a group of dermatologic surgeons from America visited the originators of this technique in France. One of these was Professor Richard Glogau at the University of California in San Francisco. In 1995 and 1996 Dr Paul Salmon studied and worked in Dr Glogau’s office for a year, learning and perfecting this technique. The original first developments of liposculpture were crude and dangerous. Break-throughs were developed in the 1990s where development of a special dilute local anaesthetic enabled removal of even large amounts of fat without the need for hospitalisation, general anaesthesia or blood transfusions. Subsequently further refinements with the use of micro cannulas further refined this exciting technique. Dr Salmon is New Zealand’s most experienced practitioner of tumescent liposculpture totally under local anaesthetic and without sedation using micro cannulas. This work was featured on the “Inside New Zealand” Documentary on TV3 in 1999.
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