VASER® vs. Traditional Liposuction: How Do They Compare?

Ever wondered why you can only seem to lose fat from certain areas, while others seem to be resistant to your best fat-reduction efforts? Unfortunately, while weight training can make certain areas look more toned up, we can’t choose where we lose fat from through exercise and diet. Our genetics have the biggest impact on fat distribution overall, along with age, gender, and hormone levels. The most effective way of having stubborn fat pockets removed from isolated spots on the body is with liposuction, but there are different types of surgical fat reduction techniques available, and each has its own unique strengths. Since there are so many options available, it can seem overwhelming, but each patient will discuss these with a plastic surgeon during their consultation to find the method that’s best for them based on their body shape and how much fat they hope to remove. Much like traditional liposuction, VASER^® also involves extracting fat selectively from areas on the body to emphasize the natural contours beneath them. Read on for a basic comparison between standard liposuction and VASER^®, as explained by New Jersey’s Burnett Plastic Surgery team, providing an extensive selection of surgical and non-invasive aesthetic procedures. 

Different Techniques and Instruments Are Used 

In traditional suction-assistant liposuction, the surgeon moves the cannula back and forth beneath the skin and the subcutaneous fat is suctioned away using an aspirator. VASER^® makes it easier to dislodge fat because it involves using ultrasonic energy instead of manual labor to loosen the fat cells. 

VASER^® Causes Less Downtime and Side Effects

Many people believe that healing is faster after VASER^®, and that it is a more comfortable experience overall. Since VASER^® is minimally invasive and other tissues such as nerves, blood vessels, and muscle are left intact during the fat removal procedure, it’s associated with less downtime and post-operative discomfort, bruising, and swelling in comparison to the more aggressive techniques used for traditional liposuction. 

VASER^® Can Also Improve the Skin

Although liposuction removes stubborn fat, it generally won’t be beneficial for sagging skin that’s caused by damaged collagen and elastin fibers due to pregnancy, being overweight, or aging. Usually, patients who have excess hanging skin will need to have other surgical body contouring techniques in addition to liposuction to address the laxity. For patients who have mild loose skin in addition to excess fat on some areas, VASER^® may be ideal because the energy that it gives off causes minimal skin tightening in the treatment areas while helping to remove some of the extra fat at the same time. 

Traditional Liposuction is Ideal for Larger Fat Deposits

Although it isn’t a weight loss procedure and it isn’t an alternative to traditional weight loss techniques, liposuction can allow patients to often safely lose up to 11 pounds of fat. For patients with a higher BMI who have large amounts of fat to be removed, conventional liposuction is best. The amount of fat that can be taken off with VASER^® is limitedm so patients would need multiple sessions to achieve the same results possible with traditional liposuction. 

VASER^® Offers a Higher Level of Precision

While it isn’t designed for removing large fat pockets, VASER^® is highly effective for contouring and can be used to reduce small quantities of fat to reveal underlying muscle tone on areas such as the abdomen to show off six-pack abs or on the flanks to accentuate the waistline. It’s a high-definition liposuction technique that is ideal for body sculpting. VASER^® also works better for patients who want to treat areas on the body that have more fibrous body tissue and would be challenging to target with conventional liposuction on its own. 

Ready for a more sculpted body shape? Learn about everything related to ultrasound-based surgical fat reduction with VASER^® and traditional liposuction in New Jersey at Burnett Plastic Surgery. Call 908.233.0200 or fill out a contact form to arrange a consultation.