Ultrasound-assisted Lipoplasty and Suction-assisted Lipoplasty

Extract

Dr. DiSpaltro: The first patient (Figure 1) is a 25-year-old woman who is in good physical condition. She is a weight trainer and wears skimpy swimwear. She is bothered most by her trochanteric and posterior thighs. Dr. Gingrass, how would you manage her problems?

Dr. Gingrass: I would manage the posterior hips with suction-assisted lipoplasty (SAL) alone, mainly because she has extremely minor fat deposits in that area, so I could not justify making the large excision needed for ultrasound-assisted lipoplasty (UAL), especially because she wears very skimpy swimwear. I would treat the saddlebags and posterior thighs with UAL because I could hide the incision in the gluteal crease and believe that UAL would give me more control. However, I would never argue against treating this area with SAL only; UAL is just my preferred tool.

Dr. DiSpaltro: How much longer would it take you to treat this patient with UAL as opposed to with SAL?