Microwave-assisted lipoplasty: A new treatment for body contouring

Abstract

Louis P. Bucky, MD, Philadelphia, PA , is a board-certified plastic surgeon. Lipoplasty is the most popular technique for body contouring in aesthetic surgery today. Advances and innovations in lipoplasty have focused on cannula design, suction techniques, and wetting solutions. Traditional lipoplasty depended on the mechanical disruption of subcutaneous adipose tissue by means of a vacuum-assisted cannula. Advances in cannula design and, more important, the infusion of low-dose epinephrine and lidocaine anesthesia, have allowed removal of greater volumes of fat and have reduced bruising and patient discomfort. The first attempt to use ultrasonic energy to enhance liposuction was in the 1980s. In more recent years, the introduction of ultrasound-assisted lipoplasty (UAL) in this country by Zocchi1 has led to its increasing popularity. Despite careful evaluation, however, the exact mechasisms of UAL are not clearly understood. Although other mechanisms may be at work, there are 3 major tissue effects that probably play a role in UAL: thermal, mechanical, and cavitational. The relative contributions of each of these mechanisms and their side effects on the tissues are …