Charlotte Liposuction Surgeon – Dr. Graper

As a leading Charlotte liposuction specialist, Dr. Graper uses this procedure to create beautiful, proportionate body contours. By carefully reshaping thighs, buttocks and abdomen, Dr. Graper can help patients achieve the shapely body contours they have always dreamed of. In addition, Dr. Graper can perform liposuction on the arms and neck in order to enhance the beauty of the upper body. If you would like to learn more about liposuction in Charlotte and the results this treatment helps achieve, please explore the paragraphs below.

Traditional liposuction was first introduced in 1978 by French plastic surgeon, Dr. Jacques Ileuz. His original technique has evolved into the modern liposuction procedure we use today. The ideal Charlotte liposuction patient is someone within 10 to 15 pounds of their ideal body weight, with isolated areas of body fat that are resistant to diet and exercise. They should have good skin tone that can contract into the now smaller volume of fat and should have realistic expectations. If liposuction patients have none of the other qualifications, but have realistic expectations, they can still greatly benefit from liposuction.

The current liposuction technique involves making 1 centimeter incisions in the creases around the periphery of the area to be suctioned. Even though the liposuction procedure is done under IV anesthesia, the area is infiltrated with high volumes of local anesthesia to provide both intense vasoconstriction and long-term postoperative anesthesia. The fat is then simply vacuumed out with specially designed cannulas. The process can be thought of as a type of body whittling or sculpting; hence, the name lipo-sculpture. The patients are placed in compressive garments postoperatively, and because of the local anesthetic, are discharged home in virtually no pain.

After Liposuction in Charlotte

Liposuction patients are seen the next day to check their progress and change their dressing. Most of our liposuction Charlotte patients have surprisingly little bruising and have such minimal discomfort that they are able to return to work within 2 to 3 days. The compressive garment is worn continuously for 3 weeks to limit swelling and ensure proper skin contraction. Liposuction patients are allowed to shower without the garment beginning the second day postoperatively.

Though improvements in body contour are noted immediately, the final results will take 2 to 3 months to be complete. Regular exercise may be resumed at 3 weeks.

Complications after liposuction are infrequent but include infection, bleeding, over-correction, under-correction, asymmetries, and skin irregularities. We try to remove just the right amount of fat to produce the desired improvement, but if we err, we always try to err on the conservative side. We can always take a little more fat in a minor touch-up procedure, but it is more difficult to put fat back into areas that have been over-resected.

Realistic expectations are critical in cosmetic surgery. We tell all our patients that this is not Hollywood, where the star emerges after cosmetic surgery with a perfect body, looking 15 years younger in a stunning new outfit, and 20 more points on their IQ. Cosmetic surgery results take time to develop and they will not be perfect. We feel very confident, however, in being able to safely produce reliable, predictable improvements that our patients are very pleased with.

ULTRASONIC-ASSISTED LIPOSUCTION

Ultrasonic-assisted liposuction is a new modification of our current liposuction procedure. Under the same IV anesthesia, through slightly larger incisions, an ultrasonic transducer is introduced into the body to emulsify the fat before it is suctioned out. Proponents of this technique claim that ultrasonic-assisted liposuction works well in areas of fibrous fat, such as the upper abdomen and flanks, where traditional liposuction may be less effective.

While ultrasonic-assisted liposuction is an exciting new process, it must be compared to the gold standard of traditional liposuction. Adding ultrasound to the procedure requires enlarged excisions, longer operative time and increased cost due to the tremendously increased cost of the ultrasound equipment. Add in the opportunity for full thickness burns to the skin if the ultrasonic transducer is not used properly, and one can see why cosmetic surgeons are not universally replacing traditional liposuction, with its remarkable safety and efficacy, for ultrasonic-assisted liposuction. As improvements are made to the ultrasonic equipment and technique, this may become the future of the procedure, but for now, traditional liposuction remains the standard of care.