It has been over 20 years since Prof Illouz spoke at Congresso Brasileiro de Cirurgia Plástica (Brazilian Congress of Plastic Surgery) to 800 plastic surgeons that left the auditorium astonished with the results of the new liposuction; using a surgical vacuum aspirator, with a rigid cannula adapted in its end, fat accumulated around the hips, abdomen, outer thigh, knees and waist, could be extracted. The process utilizes vacuum, negative pressure provided by a device, to extract fat, practically not leavings scars.
From this technique, new equipments have been developed with the same objective, but trying to facilitate the procedure; 2 years later, Pierre Founier using himself to experiment his equipment, published the syringe liposuction technique. It was them that Dr. Fournier imagined to be able to reuse the fat extracted to fill certain regions of the body such as the buttocks and the face, starting, thus the liposculpture associated with injection. At first surgeons that performed liposculpture observed an almost total absorption of the injected material on patients, leading to innumerous researches in the area here in Brazil and abroad. After many years, a dermatologist named Coleman, achieved by a specific treatment of the fat tissue collected a technique in which 80% of the injected material would not be absorbed by the body. Lipostructure, in which the particles injected are bigger then grain of caviar, was born. These particles are introduced one by one in the area wanted.
After the syringe technique, Italian surgeons published an article referring to an ultrasound liposuction, in which fat cells under the influence of the ultrasounds waves brake, and are spilled over the tissue, being aspirated after. This technique did not became very popular among surgeons; a few accidents, like skin burning, irregularities in the treated tissue and the high cost of the machine helped for this procedure not to become very popular.
Ten years ago, a Belgian surgeon had a stroke and asked for some engineers to develop a machine for him to continue to perform liposuctions. The vibrolipoaspiração (power assisted liposuction) was born. It utilizes compressed air to liquefy the fat tissue, vibrating the cannula.
Portuguese plastic surgeon Dr. Angelo Rebelo is traveling worldwide, explaining this new technique.
I have been using this new technique with great satisfaction for over 8 years, finding results much better and leaving patients happier with their new silhouette; the manual work is easier, not using great efforts to remove large amount of tissue in obese people.
Few surgeons utilize this technique in Brazil, still they say that surgeons using this technique don’t go back to the traditional one.