Facial Contouring Options: Standard Liposuction Or Laser-Assisted Treatments?

So you've made the big decision to recontour your neck and face. Plastic surgery is not something to be entered into lightly. Cosmetic procedure or not, surgery is always a serious endeavor. As such, it is important to know your options when it comes to recontouring your neck and/or face. For many years, standard liposuction has been the one and only choice in fat tissue removal. However, recent medical advances have generated a laser-assisted treatment option that offers its own unique benefits. In order to choose between these two recontouring procedures, you simply need to know and understand what each entails. Then you can schedule your appointment with a facial plastic surgeon and get the upgraded look you have been waiting for. 

Standard Liposuction

Liposuction is a surgical procedure in which a tube (known as a cannula) is inserted into the body. An aspirator is hooked up to the cannula to suction the fat out of the body through the tube.  

Traditional liposuction requires that you be put under general anesthesia. It is also an invasive procedure due to the need to repeatedly insert the cannula into different areas of fat deposit. The process can leave you sore and bruised for several days or weeks as well. 

Also unfortunate is the fact that standard liposuction cannot tighten the skin around the areas where fat has been removed. This can mean that, although the fat tissue has been removed from the affected area, your skin is still stretched out. You may have loose, saggy skin leftover as a result. This could require more extensive surgeries to fix later on. 

Laser-Assisted Liposuction

In contrast to traditional liposuction, laser-assisted liposuction is minimally invasive. It involves targeted laser treatments aimed to dissolve stubborn pockets of fat. The laser is much less cumbersome than the cannula used in standard liposuction, meaning recovery time is significantly reduced.

An additional benefit of laser treatments is that they are designed to stimulate your skin to produce collagen. The production of collagen naturally tightens your skin eliminating the need for additional surgeries to correct loose, saggy skin.

The laser procedure also allows your facial plastic surgeon to perform more precise facial contouring. The laser is able to target small and specific fat pockets whereas traditional liposuction suctions out all of the fat in the area being worked on. This means you will be more likely to reach your goals.

Traditional or laser-assisted liposuction techniques can help you toward your goal of a tighter, slimmer neck and face. All you need to do is weigh your options and contact a plastic surgeon like New York Center for Plastic Surgery to get on your way to your new face.