After discussing some of the newer procedures available in plastic surgery in recent newsletters, I thought Labor Day was a good opportunity to go back to basics and discuss one of the procedures that truly transformed our specialty: liposuction.
When I entered plastic surgery, modern liposuction was just beginning to emerge. Early techniques were introduced in Europe during the 1970s, and by the early 1980s liposuction was gaining acceptance in the United States. What followed was extraordinary. Improvements in cannulas, anesthesia, fluid management and surgical techniques helped turn liposuction into one of the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedures.
Yet one misconception remains: liposuction is not a weight-loss operation.
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