Watching liposuction procedures is scary! Violent jabbing! Any suggestions?

Thank you for your question.Liposuction certainly does appear violent when watching a video.  It is when performed properly a procedure that requires finesse and control at all times to ensure proper removal of fat.  How much force is required with the cannula will depend on a lot of factors such as the area of liposuction, any history of previous liposuction or surgery, types of liposuction cannula, whether ultrasound or power assisted liposuction is used, and surgeon preference for time needed for liposuction.  With fat transfer one typically tries to treat the cells with care on removal but the affects of "rough" harvest have not been conclusively studied.Best Dr. L

That is simply what's required to get the job done.

If liposuction cannulas were sharp they would cause tissue damage and bleeding.

They are blunt instruments that have to be pushed through the fat and gently pluck off tiny tiny particles of fat in the process.

To push a blunt instrument through healthy tissue requires a substantial amount of force.

Do use of power assisted liposuction (PAL) such as The microaire, power X or tickle liposuction allows the procedure to be done with very little force pushing the cannula through the fat.

The cannula must still be pushed through thousands of times in order to successfully remove a substantial amount of fat.

my cadence or number of times I push the cannula through the fat per minute it's around 80.

If a liposuction case takes two hours of active liposuction then that means I've pushed to cannula through the fatty layers approximately 9600 times.

Often that's what it takes to get great results.

Another technology that allows the liposuction to be done with much less force or pressure is VASER.

While I like all of the above stated technologies I don't believe any of them necessarily give better results unless the operator has the inherent skill to deliver the results and capacity to use the equipment appropriately.

While liposuction may look intense and even violent the recovery it's very easy.

Compare this to an abdominoplasty where there is no jabbing the recovery can be brutal.

This is simply a liposuction works.

Less than that typically doesn't deliver results.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom M.D.