DR. RICARDO L. RODRIGUEZ
Board-Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Founder, Ricardo L. Rodriguez MD, Baltimore Plastic Surgeon
Medical Director, Cosmetic Surgery Facility, LLC
Which types of liposuction require massage post operatively?
Patients routinely get fat grafts to the face, breast, and buttocks. However, some patients do not get the result they wanted because the fat graft did not ‘take.’ So, what happened? Why do fat grafts sometimes die or fail to take? In this post, I will explain one of the most important factors in creating a long-lasting fat graft. When the recipient tissue is normal, there really should be no need for a touch-up, or revision. Plastic surgeons have all of the tools they need to create a good fat graft on the first try!
If you’re considering Liposuction to the your love handles, saddlebags, or abdomen, familiarize yourself with the procedure and the options available to your surgeon. Know exactly how your liposuction procedure will be handled before you schedule it. Dr. Rodriguez explains what you need to know.
There are four main factors that can affect your liposuction result. Two of them have to do with the instrument used by your plastic surgeon, and the other two are related to the post op recovery period.
The Mommy makeover is a combination of cosmetic surgery procedures done at the same time to address the changes in the body after pregnancy. Each Mommy makeover is customized to your concerns. However, the Mommy makeover should address 3 main issues: the breast , stomach, and upper body changes.
Very often a patient will ask me ” How much fat do you take out during Liposuction?”. The answer is dependent on two things: 1. liposuction area 2. patient height and weight Therefore, to answer the question, I will give my answers for a body frame type that I see most frequently. We’ll use as an example a woman of average height (5’3”-5’6”) who weighs about 150 pounds.
n this video I discuss the difference between two types of liposuction: tumescent (suction) liposuction with suction assisted cannulas vs. laser/ultrasonic assisted liposuction. Both of these techniques remove fat, but they differ in technique and results.
In the Liposuction procedure, the cannula is the long slender rod which is used to extract fat from unwanted area. I will explore the evolution of the liposuction cannula and discuss why cannula size is important to get a good Liposuction result.
Dr. Rodriguez, a Yale trained Plastic Surgeon who has been practicing for over 20 years, gives his thoughts on Smart Lipo. With Smart Lipo, some damaged fat is usually left behind and the skin tightening is temporary.
Lipo to the love handles means different things to different plastic surgeons. Many surgeons consider liposuction to the love handles as just liposuction to the front flanks. They do not take any fat from the backside. Lipo to the full flanks is lipo to the love handles and liposuction to the back flanks. The back flanks is the area immediately above the buttocks.
The size of the cannula used in tumescent Liposuction can make a difference in the surgical result. You are more likely to get a smooth result if your surgeon uses a thin cannula . Read about the types of cannulas from Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez in Baltimore, Maryland.
Exparel is a long acting local anesthetic which is injected into the operative area at the end of the procedure. Like the pain pump, it focuses just on the operative area, and does not disseminate to the entire body like a narcotic does. The function of the Exparel is to numb the area of surgery so you do not feel pain. With cosmetic surgery, patients only need the one injection, and the pain control lasts for about 3 days. Similar to the pain pump, patients take fewer narcotics post operatively, because the pain is more controlled.
Recently, a patient came to me for a second opinion. She was an attractive, dark skin Hispanic female who had had Liposuction to the saddlebag area along with a tummy tuck and a breast lift. The result was great, but the patient was unhappy. She had a small waist, and a nicely defined hourglass figure. Her hips were curvy. Now why would a patient be unhappy with a ‘good’ result?
The question of whether to have a Tummy tuck or Liposuction is a very common one from my Baltimore patients. The two procedures address different problems. Liposuction deals only with fatty tissues, whereas Tummy tuck deals with muscle, skin, and fat. If you have loose skin, liposuction will not address this. Some patients are candidates for liposuction only, some for Tummy tuck only, and some could have either procedure, depending on their priorities.
I once had a patient who wanted a revision of her Liposuction. I have seen her already several times and she is unhappy about small areas on her hips. The small bulges are above and below the panty line so the indentation of the panties on the skin magnifies the defect. She recognizes that the result is an improvement on what she had before but these small things are irritating her.
