Liposuction Safety & the Tumescent Technique

With the Tumescent Technique, our patients have never required hospitalization, blood transfusions, nor have there been any infections or other serious complications.

It is also the only technique that, in the hands of an expert surgeon, permits liposuction totally by local anesthesia, avoiding the dangers of general anesthesia, IV sedation and narcotic analgesics.

Tumescent Technique is less Painful than General Anaesthesia

Those patients that have experienced both traditional liposuction and the Tumescent Technique state there is dramatically less pain experienced in the Tumescent Technique. Since the patient is awake during the procedure, the doctor is more aware of the patient’s discomfort. Once the area is completely numbed, surgery is essentially painless. In addition, the local anesthetic used persists over 4 hours allowing for no pain immediately following your surgery. Generally, pain after that period of time may be treated with over-the-counter pain medications.
Risks of Any Surgery

As with any surgical procedure, liposuction is associated with certain common side effects such as bruising, swelling and temporary numbness. Although irregularities of the skin are possible following liposuction, the Tumescent Technique minimizes this side effect.

Because of the body’s slow resolution of post-surgical swelling, the ultimate results following liposuction usually require between twelve and sixteen weeks to become fully apparent. In many cases, dramatic improvements can be seen in two to four weeks after surgery.

Although the pleasing results from liposuction can occur, it is not realistic to expect perfection. Liposuction of the thighs, as an example, may not eliminate the subtle “puckering” of the skin referred to as cellulite. The Tumescent Technique in many cases reduces the degree of cellulite but is unlikely to eliminate it.

To the best of our knowledge, there have never been any reported serious complications using the Tumescent Technique for liposuction totally by local anesthesia.

Rare problems that can potentially occur with any surgical procedure include bleeding, nerve injury and infections. The Tumescent Technique minimizes these risks.