While increasing numbers of male liposculpture patients are found in cosmetic surgery clinics all over the country (or world, for that matter!), it’s no secret that by far the largest customer base of the surgeon is that of the female gender. Women make up the vast majority of patients receiving liposculpture treatments, and all cosmetic procedures in general, over their male counterparts.

In 2008 alone, the United Stated saw roughly 330,000 patients receiving liposuction. Of this number, about 30,000 can be attributed to men and the remaining 300,000 procedures were performed on women.

What are the most popular areas of the body to be treated with liposuction for women as opposed to men?

The answer varies depending on which survey is consulted, but it seems that the following procedures always make it to the top of the list.

1. Thigh Liposculpture
Thigh liposculpture removed fat and tightens the skin in the area around the thighs. Many women opt for this procedure.

2. Buttocks Liposculpture
Along with the thights, improvements to the buttocks is a very popular liposculpture procedure for women to get.

3. Abdominal Liposculpture
Another popular option in women as it is for men, having fat removed from the abdominal area is a popular choice.

4. Breast Reduction
While breast augmentation is also hugely popular, it’s a different type of cosmetic surgery than liposculpture. When it comes to the breast area, liposculpture works to reduce the size of the breasts. Many women have this done for health concerns that relate to having disproportionately large breasts.

5. Arm Liposculpture
This type of liposculpture targets excess fat that accumulates in the upper arms. This is sometimes informally referred to as bat wings. Having this fat removed from the arms, and having the skin tightened in the same areas, is a very popular choice amongst female cosmetic surgery patients.

These 5 procedures, covering the breasts, arms, buttocks, abs, and thighs, are very popular choices for women seeking the services of a liposculpture doctor. As mentioned, according to ASAPS, last year saw over a quarter of a million women use liposuction services. This trend will surely continue as women leverage all the available options to improve their body, reduce the effects of aging, and generally just look for methods to look great at any age.

In 2008, over 30,000 men received lipoplasty procedures. Lipoplasty – also called liposuction or liposculpture – was the number one procedure for men when it came to top surgical cosmetic procedures, followed by rhinoplasty (also informally known as a “nose job”) with just slightly over 30,000 procedures too.

While this number pales in comparison to the 300,000 liposculpture treatments performed on women in the same year, it’s no secret that men are beginning to utilize cosmetic surgery and similar aesthetic procedures to improve their looks.

What are the most popular liposculpture procedures for men?

1. Abdominal Liposculpture
The abs have always been a prized area of the male body insofar as muscles and looks go. For this reason, abdominal liposculpture is a popular choice amongst men, and will likely remain this way.

2. Breast Reduction
Some are surprised to learn that one of the most popular surgical procedures for men is to reduce the size of the male breasts. This relates to a condition known as gynecomastia, or more popularly known as “man boobs”.

3. Flanks or Lovehandles
The flanks or lovehandles have become synonymous with men as they age. Of course, they are not usually considered aesthetically pleasing, and so the reduction or removoval of fat around the waist in order to get rid of love handles is one of the most popular cosmetic surgery procedures for men insofar as liposculpture goes.

The above 3 procedures – work on the abs, man boobs, love handles, are the 3 areas men as most likely to target through the use of surgical technique like liposculpture.

The fat on the male body is different than that of the fat on the female body. It actually tends to be more fibrous, which can make it harder to remove using standard lipo techniques. Because of this, many times when men use liposculpture services the surgeons implement a technique name as vaser liposculpture. Vaser lipo, also known as vaser liposuction or vaser liposelection, uses an ultrasound laser which is better at targeting the fibrous fat of the male body. This is especially true in an area like the back, which naturally contains the fibrous body fat that responds well to Vaser liposuction.

Additionally, one other aspect to note in regards to men and liposuction is that it often costs more on average for a male to have these procedures than a women. This is only because of this difference in fat. Fibrous fat is harder to remove and so the services can accordingly cost the male patient more than a female patient whose body fat is easier to remove!

This century has seen countless breakthroughs in medicine and surgery that would nearly seem miraculous to the generations before us. For a person born in 1910, who would’ve thought that in 100 years it’d be possible to remove fat from nearly anywhere in the body, reshape the nose, tighten skin in the abs, thighs, and elsewhere, add shape and firmness to the buttocks and breasts, remove unwanted breast development in men, suck fat out of the neck and back, whiten our teeth, remove hair from anywhere, make our lips fuller, our chins straighter, our eyes bigger, and so on and so forth! The human body has truly become something that a surgeon does indeed sculpt, hence our nomenclature of liposculpture surgery.

Obviously, many of these techniques are new or at least relatively new. How did they come about? Where did they come from? In this article, we’ll take a brief tour of history of liposculpture specifically.

In the 1920’s, a French physician by name of Dr. Charles Dujarrier removed excess fat from someone. Interestingly, it would appear that the first patient that had this type of surgery was a ballerina! She had fat removed from her calves and knees. The tool of choice was called a curette, which is a spoon like device used to scrape dirt and whatnot off the skin.

Sadly, the patients body did not receive the surgery well: something went wrong, and her leg had to be amputated – a terrible event for anyone, made all the more so worse for someone whose job was a ballerina.

Decades later in the 1960’s, surgeons began working again on similar procedures to remove fat from the body. These techniques were crude, involving removal of whole areas of skin and fat at once, leaving quite a scar on the body of the patient. This type of surgery was not widespread.

Halfway through the 1970’s, an American father-son team working in Rome invented what we call the cannula – the tube inserted into the patient which sucks fat out of the body. The Fischers invented this device and connected it to a suction tool to successfully remove fat from the patient. The methods used here came to known as dry liposculpture, and while wildly more successful than the work done before them, the procedure was not without it’s problems, creating roadblocks to it becoming a widespread surgery.

In the early 1980’s another French surgeon made history in the area of body sculpting by refining the previous “dry” technique and inventing wet liposculpture or wet liposuction. This technique involved the injection of saline into the area being treated, which reduced bleeding as well as made it easier to remove body fat through a cannula.

5 years later in 1987 an American physician by the name of Dr. Jeffrey Klein is credited with the invention of the tumescent liposculpture technique. This technique involved injecting the patient with solution of licodaine and epinephrine, which reduced blood loss during surgery, and made the swelling and pain experienced in recovery easier. Additionally, because licodaine was used as part of the solution, it allowed for a local anesthesia to be used during surgery instead of a general anesthesia, further making tumescent liposculpture safer and easier to implement than previous techniques.

Today, over 20 years later, there are various tools and techniques developed for liposculpture – such as smart liposuction, lippodissolve, and vibro liposculpture – yet the tumescent liposculpture technique remains the most widespread surgical technique for removing fat from the body.

In explaining the liposuction technique known as tumescent liposculpture, it will be helpful to contrast it with other methods in order to illustrate the differences between the two. Prior to the widespread adoption of tumescent liposculpture, a patient being treated to have fat removed via liposculpture / liposuction, was at the receiving end of a surgery that had to use larger incisions in the flesh in order to accomodate larger cannulas. (The cannula is the fat suctioning or fat sucking device used in all liposculpture procedures.) This technique used what’s known as general anesthesia and carried with it an increase risk of blood loss during surgery due to larger incisions and the possiblity of an unwanted reaction to said anesthesia. Additionally, prior to the tumescent technique, recovery was usually considered harder on the body with previous techniques.

Compare this to the tumescent liposculpture technique in which one or more very small incisions are made to insert also very small cannula tools, sometimes referred to as micro cannulas. Instead of using general anesthesia, tumescent lipo uses local anesthesia. The important point to note about this difference is that it means less risk of anesthesia related complications for the patient. Because the incisions are smaller and the cannulas are smaller, this carries a number of benefits to the patient. First, it lessens the risk of blood loss compared to traditional techniques. Secondly, smaller incisions mean faster healing time and less risk ofd scarring or marks left on the body post-surgery. Third, these micro cannula tools are able to target the fatty areas with improved accuracy and finesse. This all translates to a speedier recovery as compared to previous techniques!

Why the word tumescent though – what does this mean?

When speaking of “tumescent liposuction”, the tumescent phrase refers to being swollen and firm. This is in reference to the fat which will be removed, which is made swollen and firm through the injection of lidocaine, which is a local anesthetic, coupled with a solution to tighten or constrict the surrounding blood vessels (often epinephrine). Note that this blood vessel constriction is one reason why the risk of blood less is minimized in the tumescent lipo technique.

For all these reasons, tumescent liposculpture immediately became a widely adopted preference for performing various liposuction treatments all over the body. The benefits it carries – improved recovery, less anthesthia complications, less blood less, less risk of liposuction scars, and improved cannula technology – cannot be ignored!

Despite claims to the contrary, liposuction no longer holds the reigning title as the king (or queen) of cosmetic surgery procedures. As of 2008, it’s no longer true that liposculpture, or liposuction, is the most popular non invasive cosmetic surgery procedure performed in the United States of America.

In May of 2009, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, more informally known as ASAPS, released their annual survey on surgery trends from over 15,000 surgeons. The year 2008 marked the 12th year they’d been doing such a survey and tracking numbers for such things.

This survey reported a number of interesting changes and trends in the cosmetic surgey world. Here’s a few of the highlights you might be interesting in, such as:

• 2008 was the first year in which there was more than a 10% drop in the amount of plastic surgeries performed. This was the first time this had happened since 2002, 6 years ago.
• Despite the drop in overall numbers, 2008 still saw a total of over 10 million cosmetic procedures (this includes both surgical and non surgical cosmetic procedures)
• This number is approximately a million less than their report showed the previous year in 2007
• Despite the decrease in the number of customers, overall the industry reported over 12 billion dollars in income still.

For an industry like cosmetic surgery / plastic surgery to exist right now in a bad US economy, who is able to report a 10% drop in its customer base yet still report 12 billion dollars if income is amazing.

The survey goes on to report the most popular cosmetic surgeries. Let’s take a look them now. Here are the top 5 surgical cosmetic procedures:

1. Breast Augmention
Breast augmentation is a surgical procedure to change the size and shape of the breasts. This typically translates to the use of silicone and saline breast implants.

2. Liposuction (liposculpture)
Liposuction involves having fat removed from the body, along with body sculpting and skin tightening in the treatment area.

3. Eyelid Surgery
Eyelid surgery is done to remove fat, skin, and muscle from the eyelids. This is sometimes described as fixing drooping eyelids. The technical name for this surgery is called blepharoplasty.

4. Rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty is more popularly known as a nose job.

5. Abdominoplasty
Abdominoplasty involved removing extra skin in the stomach and often tightening the abdominal muscles and skin. This is commonly referred to as a tummy tuck.

The big difference between 2007 and 2008 is that liposuction is no longer the number cosmetic surgery being performed in the United States. The two actually traded positions between 2007 and 2008, swapping each other out for number one and number two of the most popular cosmetic surgery procedures done.

Liposculpture Basics

Liposculpture is a form of cosmetic surgery in which a doctor removes fat from the body of a patient, typically for the purpose of aesthetic appeal i.e. as desired by the patient, to make themselves appear more physically attractive. This removal of fat is permanent, and when done properly, the risks of scarring or marks to the body is very low.

Surprisingly, the amount of fat removed from the body is typically on the low end of what you might expect – usually less than 10 pounds! (5 kg) However, because of the manner in which a surgeon “re-sculpts” the overlying skin above in which the fat was removed, the visual effect it creates makes it appear as it more fat has in fact been removed.

Many individuals seeking liposculpture treatment do so after being unable to create the desired physical results they are seeking through diet and exercise alone. In fact, it is ideal that liposculpture patients be fit and in good health. (In the case of smokers, this means avoiding cigarettes for several weeks to months before surgery.) Doctors are often quick to point out that liposculpture is not to be considered on par with simple weight loss methods; but it is a serious medical procedure, of which come along medical risks.

Note that the more fat removed, the larger the risks. Patients also must weigh the possibility of skin dents and a sort of lumpy look that can develop over parts of the body in which the treatment was overdone.

What areas of the body can benefit from liposculpture surgery?

Liposculpture surgery can be performed on many different parts of the body, including:

• Tummy (abdominal)
• Thighs
• Buttocks
• Waist
• Hips
• Love Handles – Flanks
• Arms
• Knees
• Saddle bags
• Face and Neck (cheek, neck, jowl)
• Breasts (as in breast reduction, typically a treatment for men with gynecomastia)

How is Liposculpture surgery actually performed?

Liposculpture is performed with the use of a high-powered suction device operated by a surgeon. First the fat cells are “disrupted” and then sucked out of the body.

To enter the body, small incisions (a quarter to a third of an inch) are placed in the skin in which the suction tube is then placed. Due to an anesthetic given to the patient beforehand, the patient feels only “scraping” type sensations as the procedure is performed.

Unlike other common forms of surgery (dental, etc), the patient is usually capable of driving themselves home safely after liposculpture surgery has been performed. It is expected that patients will then need 2-3 days of recovery time before returning to work for most treatments, but depending on the extent of fat removed and the body part(s) involved, as well as the overall health of the patient, recovery time can be up to two weeks.

Post-surgery, bruising and a swelling of the skin is common. It is also normal for the treated area to remain numb for several weeks. During this time, the patient will wear a bandage-type cloth covering the skin to reduce the severity of these conditions.

How common is Liposculpture?

Liposculpture is actually incredibly common surgery – in fact, in 2006, it was the most common plastic surgery procedure with over 400,000 patients receiving treatment. (Figure quoted from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.)

Typically, liposuction is most commonly performed:

On Women – in the thighs and abdomen
On Men – in the abdomen and flanks (love handles)

Is Liposculpture right for me?

That’s something that needs to be discussed between you and your doctor.

Take a look around, learn about liposculpture, check out some doctors, and see what’s the best for you.