Liposuction may be termed in a variety of ways to describe the procedure designed to remove localized fat in one or more areas of the body, including abdominal liposuction (stomach liposuction), face liposuction (chin liposuction and cheek liposuction), neck liposuction, as well as liposuction of the thighs and arms.
Most people who choose liposuction are women, but male liposuction has become more and more popular in recent years.
The Liposuction Procedure
This plastic surgery procedure is typically performed under general anesthesia, but in some cases, local anesthesia. The decision for which type of anesthesia to use involves both you and your doctor and takes into account how much time the surgery takes. Time in surgery varies, depending on the size of the area being treated, but it is usually less than an hour. However, many people choose to treat multiple areas, which will increase the total time. General anesthesia is also preferred for people who wish to avoid the possibility of anxiety or discomfort that they may associate with the procedure.
With more recently developed techniques such as tumescent liposuction, local anesthetics provide both a numbing effect and a means to help remove fat. Also, a local anesthetic may be better when removing small areas of fat in one region that doesn't require much time in surgery.
Fat deposits adhere to the underside of the skin and can be removed if they can be dislodged. First, you would receive a local anesthetic in the area to be treated, as well as any additional anesthetics that you and your doctor decide upon. Your surgeon would make an incision and insert a cannula (a long, hollow needle) under the skin, scraping it along the underside skin surface to loosen the fat deposits. The fat deposits are then sucked into the vacuum through a tube connected to the cannula. More here
