Liposuction of the 'love handles' or flanks

This medical video is demonstration liposuction. What you see here is a patient asleep on the operating table, with her back exposed. The cannulas that I'm using, is used to inject fluid into the wound. This fluid is being placed into the superficial fatty layer, as well as the deep fatty layer. This fluid has medicines in it, one controls bleeding, and one gives her additional anesthesia. This allows us to take more fat out from an area with less bleeding. This area will be filled with enough fluid so that the tissues are actually fuller than they were when I started. And it will give the skin a certain degree of skin turgor. And I use this throughout the procedure to determine if I've taken out enough fat.The same procedure is done on the opposite side. While I'm doing the second side, the first side is having the effects of the medication take place.

Again, the fluid is placed in the superficial and deep planes of the fatty layer. Care is taken not to injure the patient. You can get a sense that there's a contour fullness on her sides. The tip of this liposuction cannula has a few holes in it that allow me to evacuate fat in an expeditious and efficient manner. As I liposuction this area, my left hand is feeling her tissues and verifying where I am at all times.

I am actually sucking out both the fluid that I put in, as well as her fat. But you will see that the majority of the fatty tissue has a more yellow color than bloody color. This area in particular, as you get close to the ribs, does tend to be a little more bloody, then some of the other areas in the body.

The liposuction cannula that I use, has holes in it that allow me to control the degree of suction that the cannula is using. Every one in a while, I will change my thumb position on that cannula, and the tube will clear. This prevents me from over suctioning any one area while trying to get to other areas.

It is a somewhat laborious task to do this type of work, but it requires a great deal of skill to evacuate the fat in a uniform and consistent manner. Sometimes, multiple access incisions are necessary to really treat an area. It really depends on how easily the fat is coming out, and what area of the body that I'm working on.

This area typically only requires one or two incisions, and it just depends on the patient and how much fat there is. The cannulas that I do use, are bendable, and on occasion, I will actually bend the cannula to allow it to curve around the body. I'm trying to get a sense of how thick her tissue plane has become, and ideally, it's going to have a certain degree of thickness.

Using this pinch technique, I can feel areas that have had enough suction, and other areas that have not. The suction will be complete once the tissue pinch tense is uniform throughout. You see here that all of this area, no matter which way I pinch it, is relatively consistent. If I feel something in my left hand that feels a little thicker than other areas, I will reinsert the cannula and take out a little bit more fat.

The wound is closed using interrupted sutures. They are dissolvable. You can see the fat in the right lower corner, that is how much fat she's had taken out from this procedure. Both sides will be done, and then she'll be placed in a foam and compression garment.