Body Jet vs. Other Liposuction Techniques

Hi there-

Your safety and outcome are going to depend on the education, training, experience, and skill of the surgeon you choose, and only minimally on the machine they choose to use.

Please understand the following:

 

Tumescent liposuction, VASER Lipo, Smart Lipo, Cool lipo, Pro Lipo, Slim Lipo, Body Jet lipo...

What does this all mean? If I don't get Smart lipo does that mean I'm dumb? If my surgeon recommends Slim Lipo does that mean he/she isn't a "Pro"? It truly is a ridiculous situation we have come to with regard to liposuction and the number of people trying to cash in on America's desire to be rid of its collective fat.

In well motivated patients, body contour improvement can be a very healthy endeavor, but how is an otherwise intelligent and well-adjusted person to know the difference between a responsible provider of aesthetic services offering them safe options for help with their body contour and a poorly trained and inexperienced provider more interested in their wallet than in your outcome and safety?

It is first important to realize that all of these devices will require you to undergo a liposuction procedure. The only difference is the approach to the treatment of the fat prior to its removal.

Because they all involve liposuction, and this is in fact a surgical procedure, it is very important that you "do your homework" and find a surgeon certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery who has the years of training in liposuction necessary to give you the safe experience and superior outcome you deserve and desire. Behind the amazing number of machines now available to remove your fat, there has followed an army of their sales representatives and an equally impressive number of providers marketing themselves as "liposuction experts".

What has made them "liposuction experts"? In almost all cases, a few days or weekends training with the salesman for the device or with someone more experienced in the procedure. It is their promise that if you have the device in their possession brought to bear on your behalf, your fat will be gone, your skin will miraculously shrink away, you won't need any anesthesia because the device allows painless removal of the fat, and it can be done on your lunch hour. The only thing I am surprised by at this point is that they don't promise you'll get rich and be more sexually alluring after the procedure too.

Selling the particular device to patients is not unlike someone saying to you that because they will give you access to Tony Stewart's racing car that you will be able to win this weekend's race and make a million dollars. Tony Stewart wins races because he is a great racing car driver AND he has a great car...This is no different.

Getting the best outcome from a body contouring procedure depends most on finding a well-qualified and experienced surgeon, and much less on the device used.

Most of these people are so aggressive in their marketing of these questionable devices because they are, in fact, not trained plastic surgeons but rather are either not physicians at all, or they are doctors with core training which would not have prepared them to do liposuction. Many have read recently about a death in my home state of Florida after a healthy 40ish year old mother had liposuction performed by a rehabilitation medicine doctor. Amazingly, I know of eye doctors (!!) doing liposuction as well- and yes, they market themselves as "liposuction experts".

The particular device used can affect the overall experience, however.

Despite the claims of the manufacturer and the practitioners who plunked down the large sum the device costs, Smartlipo has never been proven to shrink skin better than tumescent liposuction. SmartLipo, SlimLipo, Prolipo, and Coolipo all use a laser to destroy the fat cells, allowing them to be removed by liposuction. My problem with these is that, first of all, as a scientist and doctor I am offended when false claims of benefit are made, and that because the lasers will burn whatever you point them at, I worry that your nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and skin may be injured by the laser.

Bottom line (and in my opinion) -- there is no benefit to these devices, they are expensive (meaning that the cost to you, the patient, will be higher as well), and the risks are higher.

Tumescent liposuction is the gold standard to which all other techniques must be compared. It has been proven to be safe and effective over many years (provided that it is performed by a well-trained surgeon). It involves the injection of a fluid into the fatty tissue layer that causes blood vessels to shrink and the fat to expand, making it easier to remove and lowering the risk of a complication.

VASER lipo involves an additional step, in which the fat (after injection of fluid but before suction is applied) is treated with ultrasound energy. Unlike the laser filaments used in SmartLipo and the other devices mentioned above, the VASER probe is blunt and the ultrasound energy it uses is much more specific for fat, so that the risk of injury to the blood vessels and nerves, as well as the muscles and skin are much lower. This is seen in the patient experience of reduced swelling and bruising.

Each time a new (revolutionary!) liposuction machine comes out, I think the most important questions to ask are not "Does it work?", but rather, "Does it work better than what is already available, is it less expensive (not more), and is it safer than what is already available?"

The VASER (in my opinion) passes this test, while the laser based devices do not.

Having said all of that, I would emphasize that it is the education, training, experience, and skill of the surgeon at the end of the liposuction device that will make the greatest difference in your outcome and safety. There is not substitute for the years of training Board Certified Plastic Surgeons receive in liposuction, directly supervised by other Board Certified Plastic Surgeons. A well trained and Board Certified Plastic Surgeon would be more than capable of achieving a better outcome through tumescent liposuction than any eye doctor with a Water Jet. As in the analogy of Tony Stewart above- a great professional with a great tool (like the VASER) would only make those results and their safety even greater.

Please know that I have no financial relationship with any of these companies and have personally tried each of the discussed technologies myself on patients.

Thank you for your question.All techniques are effective depending on your requirements and the experience and comfort of your surgeon. I have found less blood loss and pain after body jet liposuction and the fat is also superior for autologous injections. Smart Lipo and VASER Lipo offer an advantage in terms of less skin laxity following liposuction I often use the combination of VASER Liposuction and Bodyjet Liposuction. Traditional Tumescent Liposuction can also offer excellent results in the hands of experienced surgeons. All The Best !

I have worked with a couple of different liposuction techniques and I have to say that for me Body Jet liposuction is by far the best.

What I like most is that I do not have to inflate the areas of fat that I want to treat, so a more precise shaping is possible.

I like to combine Body Jet with laser liposuction (Smartlipo) superficially for the retraction of flobby skin.

Many patients who have Body Jet like to have the fat removed elsewhere, because if connected to a lipocollector kit, Body Jet can assist in harvesting excellent quality fat grafts.

 

I have been using the Body Jet since April 2010.  I think the benefit of the bodyjet is that it is gentler and recovery is quicker.  It is an especially get machine when used with the lipo collector.  This allows us to harvest the fat and transfer it to other parts of the body like the face, breasts, buttocks and hands.

As far as other technologies, we have very busy offices and use the body jet and smart lipo mostly.  I used to use Vase for about 5 years but have stopped using since the SmartLipo triplex became available.  The 1440 wavelength is much more specific for fat.  And unlike the vaser, I have less risk of burning the skin.  I do not need to use skin protectors because the whole canula does not get hot, only the few millimeters of exposed fiberoptic at the tip.  Since no skin protectors are need, the incisons are much smaller.

We do most of body jet and SmartLipo cases under local anesthesia.  Which was not the case with the Vaser in my practice.

Body-Jet is a new FDA approved, water-assisted liposuction technique that has become available in the United States during the past year. Body-Jet offers many advantages over conventional liposuction.  Unlike traditional liposuction, Body-Jet uses a pulsating spray of water to dislodge fat cells without the force utilized in traditional liposuction.  This makes the technique less traumatic and typically results in less bruising and discomfort following treatment.  In addition this technique may provide more accuracy for the surgeon because there is less swelling and this enables the surgeon to be able to sculpt the area more precisely.  Furthermore, patients can usually be treated under local anesthesia and report less discomfort and a quicker recovery than with traditional liposuction.  An added benefit of body-jet is that the fat cells can be harvested making them more suitable for fat grafting in other areas.  Because the fat cells remain intact, they can be transplanted  with a better survival rate and used for augmenting other areas of the body, such as the face, hands, and buttocks.  As with any cosmetic procedure, the qualifications and experience of your plastic surgeon will significantly improve the outcome of your treatment.   

Body-Jet Liposuction is a device that uses a long cannula that can emit high flow water propulsion to assist with breaking away fat cells from tissues, which allows for easier suction in the area being treated.  For many, this procedure will improve total fat reduction, has little to no down time and incisions are small, so they will typically heal in 1-2 weeks.  Most of our patient are encouraged to start some activity on day 1 and gradually increase as tolerated but back to moderate activity levels in 10-14 days post procedure. 

I have been using body jet liposuction for 5 years. It is clearly superior to traditional liposuction in my hands.  Less fluid is retained in the tissues.  There is generally less bruising and swelling. And, it is an ideal method to harvest fat for fat grafting.Body jet liposuction is a nice advance in technology and very safe.  Some of the safety problems associated with energy-based techniques (like laser liposuction), such as burns of the skin, are not an issue with the body jet.The body jet is a great tool, but it remains just a tool for a surgeon to use.  The experience and judgment of the surgeon remain the most critical component of any liposuction procedure.

All the names above are the same.  I have used this technology, this type of liposuction for about 20 months ( just more than one and a half years).  It is clearly superior to other types of liposuction if used correctly.  The big differences are: 


No large tumescent solution infusion.  Unlike all other types of liposuction, a large tumescent infusion is not needed.  So unlike the "wet" or "superwet" techniques, there is no draining fluid after and no fluid overload.

Aquashape can be performed under local anesthesia, without any oral or IV sedation.  Yes, it is true, and not hype, that it is possible to do the procedure under local anesthesia.  This means that for the right person, you can stand up from the table and go back to work or even drive yourself home.

Aquashape uses smaller cannulas that are gentler and less traumatic to the tissues.  Most lipousuction is performed with 4 or 5 mm diameter cannulas, Aquashape is done with 3.5 or 3.8mm cannulas, but the diameter is really smaller, because there is a water-jet tube within the cannula, so the true suction diameter is closer to 2mm.

Aquashape water jet is strong enough to loosen the fat.  No other more traumatic energy source is necessary, including  laser, vaser, ultrasound.

Your liposuction result is strongly dependent on your surgeon.  If the body jet  or Aquashape is used by an inexperienced plastic surgeon, or if the technology is used like other techniques of liposuction it will not show the better result.  It is a technique that can produce superior results in the right hands.

I have been using the BodyJet device for liposuction since Feb of 2010, and I reported on my results at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Meeting in Toronto in 2010.  The benefits of the device are that it disperses the wetting solution (sometimes called tumescent solution) throughout the tissues using a jet spray.  The only benefit of this device is that it disperses the wetting solution more thoroughly, and therefore the surgeon can commence the liposuction sooner.  

Relatively small areas (such as the tummy, for example)  can be very efficiently treated with local anaesthesia alone without having to wait for diffusion to occur after injecting the wetting solution as with routine liposuction.   There is slightly less bruising from this device, but in all other respects I feel that the results from this device are as good as my standard techniques using small cannulas, it is just faster.   If I were undergoing a lipo procedure under local anaesthesia alone, then I would definitely want this machine to be used on me- it is very effective in quickly numbing the tissues.

The most important benefit of this device, in my opinion, is that it allows us to harvest excellent fat grafting material for fat grafting the breasts or other areas.  I have used the fat harvested from this machine for fat grafting very successfully and have posted the results on my website.

Body jet water assisted liposuction is yet another tool in the war against fat! It is not the best choice for every patient, but can be the best choice for many patients.

I frequently use the body jet in combination with other liposuction techniques to give patients that little "something extra" which can be the difference between a good and a great result. We have 4 other body contouring modalities that we use to help patients meet their goals:


VASER - ultrasonic assisted liposuction

SmartLipo - Laser assisted liposuction

Zerona - Non surgical laser assisted fat dissolution

Standard Tumescent Liposuction


Below is are some examples of how we use 5 different body contouring tools to achieve optimal results for patients:


Contouring of abdomen/flanks/extremities with fat transplantation (face or buttock) - Body jet

Contouring with tightening of loose skin abdomen or arms - Body jet or VASER + SmartLipo

Contouring/tightening neck skin - SmartLipo

Circumferential legs - Zerona (non-invasive pretreatment) + VASER + SmartLipo (inner thigh tightening)

Previously lipo-suctioned areas - VASER

Creating definition of the abdominal muscles and/or pectoral muscle areas - VASER +/- SmartLipo


Bottom line: Every patient has different needs; judicious use of different tools in the hands of a skilled surgeon can be advantageous in meeting the goals of each individual patient.