The idea of removing fat and contouring the body is not from today! A proportional and shaped body has always been desired and popular especially among the female audience. Tumescent liposuction is a modern, safe, and effective way to sculpt the figure and remove even the most stubborn body fat.
To talk about tumescent liposuction, we first need to say some things about biology as well as about the different liposuction techniques performed in Singapore.
People often ask: Why are there areas that do not respond to diet and exercise? They even get worse with diet! It's as if it's accumulating right there! Is this a gene?
When you are following a diet to lose weight, the body has a mechanism that is related to hormones. Exercise, for example, is a form of stress for the body. In response, it begins to produce more adrenaline. It releases the energy locked in the fat cells, thus helping us to adapt to the loads. There are areas where cells respond instantly to the behaviour of adrenaline, but there are also those that are resistant to its effects. And there is no diet that can change it. This is just biology. Thanks to liposuction, you can destroy and remove this excess fat that not respond to exercise and diet.
There are multiple kinds of liposuction available in Singapore and as a potential patient, it is really important to understand all of them. The most common one is known as suction-assisted liposuction (traditional), there is also tumescent liposuction, ultrasound-assisted liposuction also known as Vaser, and laser-assisted liposuction(smart lipo). And nowadays wherever you go in the market or on the roads you see the signboards which are telling us about non-surgical liposuction. Non-surgical techniques are very popular but they are effective only for a minimal amount of fat, not for significant fat reduction.
Traditional or suction-assisted liposuction was created many years ago and there are hardly any people who have not heard about this procedure. It is performed with a cannula which is a metal tube with some very small apertures in the end. A gentle suction device is passed through the cannula and this allows the fat to be gradually suctioned through the cannula and taken away from the body. The procedure is usually done under general anaesthesia.
Ultrasound-assisted liposuction or Vaser liposuction uses ultrasound energy which is basically vibrations that shake up the fat cells and disrupt them.
Laser-assisted liposuction uses specialized tiny little fibre of a laser to melt the fat and help tighten the skin.
Tumescent liposuction is one of the approaches to liposuction surgery in Singapore. In this article, we are going to focus on this type of liposuction, what is it, how is it performed, and what are the benefits of tumescent liposuction.
Tumescent liposuction was developed and refined back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is one of the most respected methods of liposuction. Why is that?
Tumescent liposuction is a technique that involves infusing large quantities of fluid into the area that will undergo liposuction. This fluid has several components - salt water (saline), epinephrine, and lidocaine. Lidocaine is a local anaesthetic that helps minimize post-operative pain and epinephrine constricts blood vessels which ultimately results in less bleeding and less bruising. This enables the surgeon to remove larger quantities of fat which also improves the surgical results. The important thing about the tumescent technique is that it involves placing that fluid into the fatty area allowing that to be absorbed by the body for both reduction and blood loss as well as increasing the patient comfort both during surgery and after surgery. The amount of fluid that will be used depends on the body area and the surgeon's preference for that technique. Tumescent liposuction is usually performed under local anaesthesia which reduces the complications that are normally related to general anaesthesia.
Like the other types of liposuction, tumescent fat removal technique is not a method of weight loss. You will probably lose just a little bit of weight from it. But it is really gonna help you to contour your body and get rid of those stubborn areas. You can do it on your arms, your inner thighs, your outer thighs, upper back, abdomen, and all over the body.
The procedure may take from one to three hours depending on the size of the area as well as the number of the treated areas.
At the pre-op, there are a lot of things that have to get handled. Your surgeon will examine you and order laboratory tests in advance to confirm your health status. This review will include a complete health history and most likely a detailed weight history. He/she will also take your photos and give you prescriptions and garments for the surgery. The surgeon will give you a list of medications to avoid prior to surgery. This usually includes aspirin, some anti-inflammatory drugs, and herbal supplements. You will also have to stop smoking at least two weeks before surgery.
The recovery time depends on how much you do, how many areas you treat, and where they are. Typically it takes about one or two weeks. You may have mild pain which is usually very manageable with anti-inflammatories. If you feel well you can return to work and your normal daily activities after one week. The final result largely depends on the strict observance of the advice for the postoperative period.
The recovery time with tumescent liposuction is usually less as opposed to traditional liposuction. This is because the size of the cannula is smaller as well as the fluid that is used to dissolve the fatty tissue makes the recovery much quicker and much less bruising.
You will have to wear a compression garment 24 hours a day until the drainage stops. That is normally fitted to suit your physique and it gives you gentle pressure on the area of the tumescent liposuction. The importance of wearing the garment is related to that the fluid will come out and then it would reduce the swelling. It means you get much less swelling and bruising.
The best candidates for tumescent liposuction are the ones who truly understand that this is not a weight-loss procedure. This is a procedure that is best designed for patients who have troublesome areas that are resistant to exercise and dieting. Those can be women or men who have tried for a long time to address their hips or abdomen but they understand that they are not undergoing surgery to lose weight. They do it to look better and to address certain problem areas in their body.
Unfortunately, it is possible but if you allow it to come back. What does it mean? It means that if you keep your weight, this will not happen. With tumescent liposuction can be removed from 70 to 80 % of the fat cells in a given area. Fat cells work by the expanding and swelling as you gain weight and contract as you lose weight. After liposuction, you will have around 20 % remained fat cells in the treated area which means it will be hard to go back to a weight that is higher than when you started off with. However, even hard, it is still possible to gain the weight back in an area after you have had liposuction done. If you are not exercising regularly, if you are not eating properly and if you are not dieting correctly you can gain weight. However, you are going to most likely gain the weight back in other areas of your body.
Tumescent liposuction costs really vary a lot, both from patient to patient and from doctor to doctor. Of course, if you have less fat you will pay less than if you have to remove too much fat. The same refers to the size of the treated area - if it is big it will be more expensive and vice versa. Keep in mind that most of the surgeons in Singapore won't perform liposuction only on one or two body areas. Therefore it is really difficult to give an answer when asked about the cost of tumescent liposuction. The average price for each body part area is around $2000 - $3000 and the overall cost can climb up to $15000 or $20000.
If you do Internet research you will find lots of different information and techniques for liposuction. You will also find that everyone has their opinion about what technique is the best for liposuction. So our best advice is to consult a real surgeon who has a good understanding of what liposuction is, how the technique is done, how to do it safely, and how to get the best cosmetic results. That's really what your goal should be as a patient.