What is Smartlipo?
Smartlipo Laser Body Sculpting is a minimally invasive, laser-assisted lipolysis procedure that eliminates fat at trouble spots like the abdomen, thighs and neck.
Here’s how Smartlipo/Laser Liposuction works:
- Local anesthesia is used (i.e. you’re awake during the procedure, thus eliminating risks of general anesthesia)
- Your surgeon makes a tiny incision, about the size of the tip of a pen
- The Smartlipo TRIPLEX laser fiber is inserted through a very small tube into your body
- The laser ruptures the fat cell membranes
- The fat cells are destroyed
- The liquefied fat is gently suctioned out
- New collagen is produced, resulting in coagulation of skin, resulting in tightening
Typically only ONE treatment is required, depending on the number of areas to be treated. Results may vary but usually can be seen within a week, with continued improvement over three to six months.
Who are the best candidates for laser liposuction?
It depends on which body parts you are looking to improve. We see a lot of post-weight loss/bariatric patients in our practice who sometimes develop excess skin. Many of these patients are reasonable candidates for arm (AKA“batwings”) and neck laser liposuction, as the skin tightening properties of Smartlipo’s newest Triplex technology are quite impressive.
Although individual results may vary, you could see dramatic skin tightening differences in the two before/after examples given below (note that no skin was excised in either of these patients and both were treated in a single session). Therefore, when it comes to neck and arms, we consider most patients who come to see us for laser liposuction reasonable candidates as long as they have realistic expectations.
We’ve also seen great utility of Smartlipo laser liposuction in male gynecomastia cases related to excess fat in the male chest.
When it comes to other body parts such as the abdomen and legs, some patients are better candidates than others. Ideal patients, in my opinion, are relatively fit (e.g. body mass index less than 30, and less than 35percent body fat) with a small target area of concern.
When a patient says to me, “Doc, I work out religiously, I eat clean, but I just can’t get my abs to pop,” or, “I just can’t get rid of my love handles,” those are usually the ones who achieve the best results with laser liposuction.
If, on the other hand, you have significant excess skin you may be better suited to an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck). If you have a high BMI (e.g. over 35) or a high fat percentage, you may first want to look into nutritional counseling or possibly even weight loss surgery. If you meet the criteria for weight loss surgery, it could potentially also help with other obesity-related medical problems such as diabetes, sleep apnea and high blood pressure.
As seen in the examples below, we here at Advanced Surgeons offer a technique which destroys fat cells for additional sculpting of your body moving beyond simple fat removal, into the realm of muscle sculpting with “shrink wrapping” of skin into ab creases.
Check out more Smartlipo before/after pictures from Advanced Surgeons.
Call Advanced Surgeons to schedule a free consultation: 914-347-0162 or go to Advanced Surgeons.
