Liposuction
and
Liposculpture

Ocean Clinic Marbella

Liposuction (or liposculpture) body contouring is the surgical removal of fat deposits via a cannula using various types of suction techniques. It is suitable for almost any body area but typically the abdomen, legs, neck, breast, hips and buttocks are among the most requested. Moreover, liposuction may also contour the body’s silhouette and promote skin retraction and smoothening. The fat removed does not normally return easily and so the changes made are long-lasting, so long as body weight remains stable.

The ideal candidates for liposuction are men and women with stable body weight but resistant fat deposits in a single or multiple body regions. At Ocean Clinic, we frequently combine liposuction with numerous surgical procedures, such as tummy tucks, body-lift or even face lift, in order to achieve better contouring and therefore an enhanced over-all cosmetic outcome. Additionally, we can use your autologous (own) fat harvested by liposuction as a valuable soft tissue filler and powerful skin quality enhancer by means of simultaneous fat transfer.

Liposuction

What You Need to Know Beforehand

Various liposuction techniques and systems

Tumescent liposuction is the most common type of liposuction. The surgeon performs first a local injection of a sterile wetting solution — a mixture of salt water, which aids fat removal, an anesthetic for pain relief and a drug that causes blood vessels to constrict. Afterwards, tiny incisions are performed allowing thin cannulas, connected to a vacuum pump, to suction out unwanted fat.

Various liposuction systems and techniques are used at our clinics, depending upon your individual case, the amount of fat to be removed, the body region and your skin quality.

Water-jet assisted liposuction (WAL, bodyjet^®). The WAL body-jet® is an innovative system characterized by its gentle fat extraction technique, this is particularly useful for autologous fat transfer.

For further benefit to the patient, WAL mechanically separates the subcutaneous fat tissue by injecting liquid under high pressure and simultaneously aspirates the detached fat. This result is a faster, more gentle procedure with less damage to blood vessels and other structures, resulting in less pain, bruising, mechanical irritation and skin irregularities. With significantly reduced postoperative swelling, the overall recovery is faster and outcome more precise.

Power Assisted Liposuction (PAL, Tickle Lipo, Lipomatic). PAL utilizes cannulas which rapidly move in a back-and-forth motion. These small vibrations enhance the effectiveness in removal of tough and densely connected fat deposits, such as male breasts, calves, inner thighs, etc. Less mechanical force is needed and hence less trauma to the surrounding tissue occurs, resulting in a more accurate outcome.

Suction-assisted Liposuction / Tumescent liposuction

Like the earlier mentioned techniques, this liposuction method operates on the basic principle of vacuum-assistance. It is also suitable when simultaneous fat transfer is planned for the body or the face.

Liposuction: Surgical technique and scars

Prior to surgery, the surgeon will outline undesired fat deposits on your skin to plan for the operation. The skin incisions are only a couple of millimetres long and are performed along the natural cutaneous creases, resulting in almost invisible postoperative scars. After the infiltration of the areas to be treated, it is advisable to wait for some time (up to 20 minutes), depending on the technique applied. This is necessary for the injected liquid to diffuse and to open up the soft tissues to allow for a more gentle surgical technique, thus additionally minimizing any risks. The chosen aspiration technique is performed and transition areas are addressed by thinner cannulas in order to achieve the desired contour and harmonic outcome.

After Surgery and Beyond

Liposuction aftercare

The majority of postoperative swelling normally subsides after 1 week and only in the rather unlikely case of bruising, it may take up to few weeks to completely disappear. However, it will take several months for skin to completely retract, redefine and tighten. Compression garments are to be continuously applied for around 4 - 6 weeks in most cases.

Liposuction results are long lasting if you maintain a stable postoperative weight. However, in case of weight gain, the remaining fat cells do not reproduce but grow bigger, possibly resulting in local relapse of fat deposits. We strongly support postoperative skin treatments and massages for lymphatic drainage for maximized and enhanced outcome.

Liposuction related risks

There are non-specific risks that are connected to any kind of surgical procedures like hematoma, infection and seroma.

Contour irregularities are rare but can occur particularly in patients with thin skin and loss of elasticity. It is paramount to choose the individual technique tailored to each patient’s conditions, and to select cannula size depending upon the body region to minimize the risk for irregularities and lower the risk of fat embolism. Tell your surgeon about your general health conditions and any medications you regularly take.

Liposuction alternative technique

An alternative to liposuction may be a surgical fat and skin removal through an open technique, such as tummy tuck. There are other non-invasive cosmetic and dermatological treatments available on the market which may provide some beneficial effect but are often more limited in the aesthetic outcome and can be very time consuming.

Ocean Clinics experience in liposuction

The Ocean Clinic group performs over 300 liposuctions a year, either as a stand alone or as a combined procedure. Having solid, long-standing expertise, we are also the official training center for the WAL (Bodyjet^®), teaching national and international visiting doctors and organizing instructional courses for surgeons four times a year. Numerous publications and congress lectures on fat removal techniques and fat grafting underline our knowledge in this field. We are strong supporters of the concept of autologous fat transfer and strongly believe in the regenerative ability of adipose grafting.