most parts of the world. It is a tried and tested laser therapy which was
initially practiced in Italy in Europe. Now other countries like Japan, USA
and South American countries have started performing this laser liposuction
which has many added advantages. It was approved by the Food and Drugs
Administration in November 2007.
SmartLipo involves using a laser body sculpting workstation. This is
manufactured by Cynosure which is an American Company that produces
laser and light-based source equipment for the health industry. The device
was approved by FDA for laser assisted liposuction.
The SmartLipo procedure involves introducing a laser probe through a tiny
incision in the skin at the treatment site and passing laser pulses to
liquefy the fat at that site. The Smartlipo LaserBodySculpting Workstation
delivers a 1064-nm Nd: YAG laser fiber through a probe. The laser probe is
very delicate and thin. It is about 1mm - 2mm in diameter. So the skin
incision that is needed to introduce this probe is very small.
Laser liposuction or SmartLipo is an outpatient procedure and is done under
local anesthesia. There is no need for any special preparation at the
beginning of procedure. The doctor after examining the candidate to see
whether he is fit, injects a fluid at the treatment site. This injection
contains anesthetic drug to make the procedure painless, other drugs to
make the site bloodless to prevent blood loss.
The laser probe after insertion in to the treatment is operated by doctor to
deliver laser pulses. These laser pulses melt the fat at the treatment site
which is removed by the blood. A few doctors also suck the excess liquefied
fat not removed by the blood through a cannula introduced through the skin.
In this procedure, there is no need to move the equipment to and fro to the
extent done in the traditional liposuction procedure. This obviously
decreases the tissue trauma and subsequent bleeding. Moreover the laser
pulses coagulate the tissue around the treatment site and this again helps in
controlling the bleeding.
The laser in addition to liquefying the fat also induces the tissue to lay
down collagen. This collagen contracts and makes the skin over the
treatment site tight. This prevents the formation of any loose skin folds and
makes the treatment site perfectly blend with the body contour.
The procedure of SmartLipo takes relatively less time. Each session of
treatment lasts for approximately 45 minutes to one hour. Since the laser
probe is very small, the incision made does not require any suturing. Since
no suturing is done, no ugly scar results. Also the results become evident
within a week and the results are permanent since the fat cells are destroyed
and removed.
