When my patients request Louisville Liposuction they sometimes want every single fat cell removed from an area. Well, this just isn’t possible.

Why? For a couple of reasons. When we do liposuction we want to suction out the deeper layer of fat. If we suction the fat cells that are just underneath the skin, the patient is prone to developing noticable contour irregularities ( eg a “dent”). While this is a known problem that can result from any liposuction case, our aim as the surgeon is to keep this to a minimum.

The second reason is that if we try to liposuction all of the fat out, we would probably injure the blood supply to the skin. This could result in areas of skin death resulting in an open wound on the skin and a resultant scar. Obviously this is not a good thing.

Lee Corbett, MD

www.CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com

Liposuction is a technique Louisville Plastic Surgeons use to remove unwanted fat.

We do this using instruments we call a cannula. This is a hollow metal tube that can range in diameter from 1 to 5 millimeters. On the end there are a variety of shapes and hole patterns thru which the fat is suctioned.

The operation carries out something like this. The patient is anesthetized and positioned so the area of interest is exposed. The skin is sterilized and then small, and small means 2 or 3 mm, skin nicks are made. The cannula is slipped into the fatty tissue thru the skin nick and a back and forth motion is made like you are shooting pool. The cannula is attached to tubing that  connects to a suction machine and the fat is removed. Most cases can be completed in an hour or two and almost all are done as an outpatient.

Lee Corbett, MD
www.CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com