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Dr. Steinman explains if liposuction is safe.
Dr. Steinman:
Liposuction in the way the dermatologists perform it is very safe. We perform the technique called tumescent liposuction, which was actually invented by a dermatologist in San Clemente, Calif. Jeffrey Klein invented it years ago. It is a procedure where you take very dilute anesthetic mixed in saline and you inject it slowly into the fat layer to expand the fat layer and separate the blood vessels that are within the fat layer and you separate the fat layer from the skin above and the muscle below and it imparts anesthesia for up to 18 hours. You then extremely tiny pipes and you can run those through the fats layer, you attach the pipe to a vacuum device and you can remove large amounts of nearly pure fat with very little risk and very little down time. Nearly all of the complications that occurred with liposuction were not with tumescent technique and were with patients who are put under general anesthesia in medical centers. That is where the risk arises, when they use large pipes to remove the fat and they put the patient to sleep. If in tumescent technique, you are awake. We give a medicine to relax, but you are awake for whole time. You can move your body to the exact position we need to. You go home that night, you rest and the vast majority of patients are working two days later.
About Dr. Howard Steinman, M.D.:
Dr. Howard Steinman is the first and only Dermatologist in South San Diego County fully certified by the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery in all aspects of cosmetic surgery and by the American Board of Dermatology in all aspects of Dermatology. He is one of the very few Board-Certified Dermatologists with formal residency and fellowship training in both Cosmetic Surgery and Advanced Surgical Dermatology. Dr. Steinman is the Medical Director of MD Skin Esthetics and Spa, a comprehensive Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery center located in Chula Vista, California.