The History and Myths of Ultrasonic Liposuction are Dispelled

Since surgeons first employed abrasive curettage procedures to scrape away undesirable subcutaneous fat, liposuction has come a long way. Several important changes have been made in recent decades to aid in the production of better, safer surgical outcomes. Improved instrumentation, better patient selection, and the integration of pre-aspiration wetting solutions are among the advancements.

Yves Filous, a French surgeon, is largely responsible for the rise in popularity of the liposuction procedure. Plastic surgeons trained in Europe adopted the method and disseminated it in the United States. Suction has remained one of the most common treatments in plastic surgery for three decades and millions of instances.

 Liposuction was first introduced to the Anecdotal reports of catastrophic consequences, including deaths, accompanied the new treatment. These terrible occurrences were all the more serious because the concept of cosmetic, elective surgery was still in its infancy. These tales were made noteworthy by the prospect of a patient suffering catastrophic problems as a result of a medically unnecessary surgical operation. The negative media coverage gave the new technique a bad name that has stuck with it to this day.

The causes of the early disasters were complicated. Poor patient selection and varied levels of practitioner skill were among the issues. Hemodynamic instability was also caused by a lack of recognition of considerable blood volume losses in the aspirate. In their haste to remove huge amounts of fat, surgeons frequently result in excessively low hematocrit levels.

Traditional liposuction, also known as suction assisted lipectomy (S.A.L. ), has a straightforward mechanism. A rigid, hollow cannula is placed into the subcutaneous region and attached to a suction machine. The surgeon creates a series of tunnels with rapid, coarse strokes that eventually become confluent, reducing the fat panniculus. The technique's fundamental flaw is that it lacks tissue selectivity. All parts of the subcutaneous tissue plane, including valuable structures like blood vessels, nerves, and fibrous tissue, are evacuated or destroyed by the suction action.