smart lipo
I was recently sitting in the doctor's office awaiting my appointment. Normally, I bring some type of magazine or something to read, but in my hurry to leave the house I wasn't able to bring anything to do. I began leafing through one of the medical magazines that rested on a table, and found an article on liposuction. Now, I'm not obese or even moderately overweight, so the article didn't apply to me. But out of curiosity, I read the article.
It turns out that liposuction isn't exactly the procedure I had thought it would be, and I was even more surprised to find that there were multiple variances of the general term "liposuction". I learned that liposuction was invented in the late 1960s, early 1970s in Europe. The first technique used was a "dry" technique, which didn't involve the injection of any fluids into the fat. This procedure was dangerous, however, because it led to blood loss and shock.
The improvement on the dry technique is the "wet" technique, which involves some injection of a small amount of fluid (usually less than the volume of fat being removed). The fat is then suctioned out. A variation of this, the tumescent technique, injects a large amount of fluid into the fat which reduces blood loss and makes it easier to remove the fat. But the article focused more on a new technology: smart lipo. At first, I wasn't sure if any liposuction is ever smart but then I realized that it was just a brand name. SmartLipo is a type of liposuction that involves using a laser to loosen fat then suctioning it out, versus the other methods of using liquid or even ultrasound to loosen the fat. According to the article, not only does smart lipo cost less than traditional liposuction, but it is more accurate, safer, and quicker than more traditional methods.
I couldn't help but wonder how could smartlipo cost less when a person obviously got so much more than they get with traditional liposuction. For example, it's called the "Lunchtime Lipo" because people require little to no recovery time after the procedure. It doesn't even have to be performed in a hospital! And according to the article, a person only requires local anesthesia in lieu of general anesthesia. Apparently smart lipo cost is not bad.
Of course, there are stipulations. It said that likely candidates had to be within a certain percentage of their ideal body weight and had to be in good health. Obviously, smartlipo is no cure-all for obesity and is really more of a method of cosmetic surgery (in fact, it fits under the category of cosmetic surgery) rather than one of weight loss. In fact, a person does not lose much weight with the procedure but will lose inches off their waistline.
I left my doctor's appointment that day feeling quite informed about this alternative to liposuction. If I needed or wanted a procedure like that, I may have actually considered doing it. But for now I'll just thank my lucky stars that I don't need it and wait for the next interesting new medical discovery to come up.