New study questions the effectiveness of novel liposuction techniques

Liposuction is one of the most common and popular cosmetic surgeries available today and there are numerous novel techniques being developed such as freezing the fat or employing lasers or ultrasound to eliminate the fat.

For the consumer choosing the right procedure can prove to be difficult. They often depend on the advice of their plastic surgeon to determine which type of liposuction will give the best results for the short term and the long term.

A study conducted by the Northwestern University concluded that is difficult to know if new liposuction procedures that use lasers or ultrasound have the same long term results as tumescent liposuction. The reason is because these new techniques, although approved by the FDA, have good short-term results, but have not been studied to evaluate their long term effectiveness.

Tumescent liposuction is a procedure with known effectiveness since it has been employed by cosmetic surgeons for decades. Blood loss is one of the complications of liposuction, but with tumescent liposuction this is minimal because localized anesthesia also restricts blood flow.