5/23/08
Body-contouring procedures have improved as surgeons have gained experience, learned when to combine liposuction and excision, and learned how to reduce complications, say surgeons who spoke at a panel at the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in San Diego.
"These patients come in and say, ‘I’ve lost the weight and still feel fat,’ " says plastic surgeon Al Aly, MD, who spoke at the meeting. His goal for these patients, he says, is to help them shed the "fat" stigma by eliminating as much excess skin and fat as possible.
That typically translates to performing a variety of procedures that may combine liposuction and surgery. Large amounts of loose and heavy folds of skin can be left around the arms, thighs, breasts, buttocks, face, and abdomen.
As physicians have gained experience, Aly says, they’ve gained control over the position of the scars from the surgeries, so they are less noticeable.
The trend, Aly says, is away from performing many procedures at one time. "We feel very strongly that multiple, smaller procedures are safer than larger ones," Aly says.
Another trend is to use two teams of surgeons, says Dirk Richter, MD, a plastic surgeon in Wesseling, Germany, who also spoke at the meeting.
More.
[Source: WebMD Medical News]
