Liposuction and Uneven, Lumpy Results
Liposuction is the work of removing fat tissue to create a beautiful body contour, but one of the concerns when considering liposuction is when the skin has lost elasticity, is sagging, or is wrinkled.
The lower abdomen, arms, and inner thighs in particular are the areas where fat accumulates the most when weight is gained, and they are also the areas most often considered for liposuction.
In the lower abdomen and arms, if the fat can be removed thoroughly during liposuction, the skin tends to contract well and these areas often respond well. In the lower abdomen in particular, even when the fat and skin are drooping and sagging, the skin often contracts well after surgery without a separate skin-excision procedure, and satisfaction tends to be good.
The upper abdomen and inner thighs are areas where the skin contracts relatively less and wrinkles form easily. In the upper abdomen, satisfaction after liposuction is sometimes lower. Therefore, in these areas, thoroughly removing the fat right under the skin helps induce skin contraction and can improve the result. Even so, wrinkles tend to form in the upper abdomen. This is because the fat tissue of the upper abdomen has less elasticity, there is no fibrous membrane like Scarpa's fascia, which exists only in the lower abdomen, so the skin contracts less, and the spine bends at a greater angle at the level of the upper abdomen than at the lower abdomen, so wrinkles inevitably appear when you bend your head down to look at your belly. Since the upper abdomen can only be seen by bending forward, and wrinkles show whenever you look at it, it is hardly a pleasant feeling.
Young people with good skin elasticity get the best liposuction results. However, reduced elasticity does not mean the surgical result will be poor. Even if you diet hard and succeed in losing weight, you then worry again because the skin starts to sag. But even for someone with reduced skin elasticity, and even in areas that do not contract well after liposuction, the cosmetic result is better than the skin laxity that develops after dieting.
MALL (massive all layer liposuction), superficial liposuction, and subdermal liposuction could be translated as full-layer liposuction, superficial-layer liposuction, and subdermal liposuction; in any case, these terms all refer to liposuction methods intended to induce skin contraction.
In particular, when skin elasticity is reduced and wrinkles have already formed, this is a liposuction technique that thoroughly suctions not only the deep fat layer but also the superficial fat to induce skin contraction. However, it is also a method that is difficult to choose, because it is more prone to unevenness, has higher rates of skin necrosis and seroma, takes longer, and requires a lot of physical effort. It also has the difficulty of requiring micro-cannulas with an outer diameter of about 2.0-2.5 mm and must be performed directly by skilled, precise human hands.
Careful and thorough superficial liposuction is the procedure that makes it possible to recommend liposuction alone, without skin excision, even for older people with thin skin and reduced elasticity. However, because of these difficulties, it is also a technique that doctors often have to avoid even if they would like to perform it.
Venus Clinic's Two-Doc Liposuction is performed by two doctors, so liposuction proceeds quickly; this allows us to perform with greater safety not only large-volume liposuction but also liposuction for people with low skin elasticity and severe sagging. Also, during surgery, even while using fine cannulas such as micro-cannulas, we have the physical capacity to treat thoroughly down to the superficial fat, which is an advantage for liposuction in people with reduced skin elasticity.
In liposuction of 2,000cc or less of pure fat, removing only the deep fat can produce a good result without unevenness because the amount of stretched skin is small. However, for large volumes of 4,000cc or more and for people with reduced skin elasticity, removing only the deep layer leaves the stretched skin contracting too little, resulting in uneven bumps, folds, and wrinkles, and since not enough fat is removed, a good cosmetic result cannot be achieved. Even if the superficial fat is removed, the surface will still become uneven if it is not removed smoothly right to the end.
In conclusion, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the success of large-volume liposuction depends on the doctor's mindset of doing their careful, precise best even in hard and difficult situations, and on the doctor's ample experience and stamina to support it.
[Dr. Jung, Director, Venus Clinic ]
