History of Tumescent Liposuction

Tumescent liposuction is a fat extraction procedure that involves injecting large volumes of dilute lidocaine (local anesthetic) and epinephrine (drug that shrinks capillaries) into fat. Once injected into the target area, the solution causes fat to become swollen and firm, making fat removal easier while lowering bleeding and pain.

Commercial solutions of lidocaine are used by dentists and anesthesiologists and contain 1 gram of lidocaine and 1 milligram of epinephrine per 50 milliliters of saline. On the other hand, tumescent solutions of local anesthesia contain about 1 gram of lidocaine and 1 milligram of epinephrine in 1,000 milliliters of saline.

Liposuction commonly uses general anesthesia. Cannulas of general anesthesia in the 1980s were huge with diameters of 6 to 10 mm. Cross sectional areas were also 9 to 25 times greater than today's 2 mm microcannulas. French surgeons Illouz and Fournier used blunt-tipped cannulas, which popularized this cosmetic procedure. The wet technique used included preoperative injection of a small volume of vasoconstrictive solution of epinephrine into the fat. In 1983, American surgeons performed the procedure using general anesthesia, epidural regional anesthesia or heavy IV sedation. Back in the '80s and '90s, liposuction caused excessive bleeding, took a longer recovery time, and caused skin irregularities.

The invention of the tumescent technique by Jeffrey A. Klein in 1985 improved the liposuction procedure.  Dr. Klein believed the liposuction Wellington surgeons offer could be performed using a small volume of local anesthesia. He determined how much fat could be removed with 500 mg of lidocaine and 0.5 mg of epinephrine. He discovered each increase in the dilution of the lidocaine and epinephrine allowed extraction of greater volume of subcutaneous fat.

Dr. Klein performed his first tumescent liposuction procedure on April 4, 1985. His patient had an accumulation of fat on the lower abdomen. Dr. Klein used undiluted concentrations of local anesthesia and a small volume of fat. The patient experienced no pain and no surgical bleeding because of the epinephrine. Experts of liposuction Delray Beach FL  has also employ this technique.

The tumescent procedure is a kind of liposuction Boca Raton offers that does not require intravenous sedatives, narcotic analgesics or general anesthesia. It reduces bleeding during and after surgery, and also reduces bruising after surgery.