Transcript

Let’s talk about techniques of liposuction, and the one thing I’d like you to remember about liposuction is it’s not what you take away, it’s actually what you leave, that makes a wonderful result. What does that mean? It means that the surgeon needs to know when to start, what type of technique, and when to finish that keeps you in a safe, beautiful result zone. The way that I do that is a technique called fat equalization, or Lipo F.E. Lipo F.E., or fat equalization, is a three-phase process. The first phase is moving the fat around –softening it– so that it makes it easy to take out in phase two, which is the actual liposuction or fat removal. Phase three is the actual fat equalization process, where the fat that is left, the fat that remains giving the contour to the person, is placed in a smooth way so that it’s even throughout. The instrument that we use is this. It’s called an exploded tip or a mushroom tip cannula. It has kind of a rounded, safe edge and the actually tines, or gills, are not sharp, but they’re wide enough to actually knock the fat off, and the analogy that I give my patients is that it’s a little bit like shaking an apple tree. You can shake the tree and it’s a lot easier to pick the apples up when they’re on the ground than having to climb up the ladder and pull them off the tree. Once I’ve removed the proper amount of fat and shaped the area I still want it to be as smooth as possible and so it’s almost like taking the few remaining apples that are on the ground and moving them around a little bit into an area where they’re now flat and smooth and equal. So, fat equalization –Lipo F.E.– is preparation of the fat, removal of the fat, and then smoothing or equalization of the fat at the termination of the procedure.