liposuction 1st draft

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Katie Burns

Prof. Presnell

English 1102

6 April 2012

Liposuction

One of the first procedures of liposuction ever performed resulted in the amputation of a

patients leg. As it was explained by Ralph William Ahern in The History of Liposuction, the

patient wanted to remove fat from her legs and ankles around the year of 1921. The surgery was

performed by Dr. Charles Dujarrier by using a uterine curette, one of the first techniques of

liposuction. This technique was one of the most dangerous forms of liposuction and as a result

the womans femoral artery was injured, and her leg had to be amputated. It is important for

people to know that a surgery like liposuction which isnt that invasive can have major

complications, and that the patient should know everything about the procedure before thinking

about getting it done.

Since the uterine curette incident not many people took interest into liposuction because

of how dangerous it was. The next well known technique of liposuction was dermolipectomy

which was performed by Dr. Pitanguy in the 1960s. Dermolipectomy was safer than the

technique using the uterine curette but still caused an excess amount of scaring compared to

liposuction in the modern world.

The dry technique of liposuction was introduced soon after dermolipectomy in 1976. It

was performed by a machine assisted lipectomy through blunt cannulas. (Ahern). A father and


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son named Giorgio and Arpad Fischer invented this technique along with the criss-crossing

technique. They also introduced liposuction to many people around the world, which resulted in

the procedure becoming more popular. Although their technique was safer than using a uterine

curette, it still wasnt safe enough. Common complications that were a result of this procedure

were hematoma and seroma formation. The next step in the evolution of liposuction involved the

wet tumescent technique invented by Dr.Yves Illouz. This technique minimized blood loss by

making the skin swell up and preserving neurovascular bundles in the fat to nourish the

overlying skin. (Ahern).

It wasnt until 1987 when the modern technique of liposuction was invented. This

technique was called tumescent liposuction and it involved two different forms; true tumescent

liposuction and semi-tumescent liposuction. True tumescent liposuction involved using only a

local anesthetic to minimize major complications. The anesthesia used is large volumes of dilute

lidocaine and dilute epinephrine. With this technique blood loss is minimized as well safety for

the patient.

Semi-tumescent liposuction is done by using general anesthesia or IV sedation and it isnt

as safe as true tumescent liposuction due to the amount of anesthesia. Semi tumescent has major

risks to follow because of the amount of toxicity in the general anesthesia. It ignores the

possibility of a safer procedure by using local anesthesia. This is when major complications, like

death, come in to play. Every death reported in association with liposuction has been associated

with general anesthesia, heavy ID sedation, or bupivacaine. (Klein). One can say that it is a

better choice to follow the route with a local anesthesia than to risk ones life by using general

anesthesia. In a scholarly journal performed by Dr. Louis Habbema it was stated that out of

3,240 true tumescent procedures performed only 9 overall complications occurred which is a


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significantly small number for this kind of procedure proving it to be one of the safest cosmetic

procedures today.

What are the Risks?

Before undergoing any type of surgery the patient must be informed of all of the serious

risks or complications that can possibly occur. Although tumescent liposuction is one of the

safest cosmetic procedures performed in the United States, complications can still occur. Of

course infection is the number one complication that can be a result of any surgical procedure.

Most surgeons give their patients antibiotics before surgery to prevent infections. Every patient

must keep the site of the wound clean at all times to prevent infection. Infections can lead to life

threatening serious circumstances such as necrotizing fasciitis (which eats away the tissue), or

toxic shock syndrome.

Embolism is another serious complication that can develop. According to the FDA in

What are the Risks or Complications embolism happens when fat is loosened and enters the

blood through ruptured blood vessels (which happen as a result of the surgery). The fat that

enters the blood vessels can be trapped and travel to the lungs, or even the brain which can turn

into a life or death situation. Symptoms of this disease can involve shortness of breath or

difficulty breathing. Just like any surgery, visceral perforations of the organs can occur (an

internal puncture wound). During the liposuction procedure the surgery is unable to see where

the instrument is, and has to follow it through a camera so sometimes they accidently puncture

an organ. This complication may cause for the patient to have another surgery to fix the

perforation due to the amount of damage.


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Works Cited

Ahern, Ryan William. "The History of Liposuction." Seminars In Cutaneous Medicine And

Surgery

28.Advances in Body Shaping (2009): 208-211. ScienceDirect. Web. 11 Mar. 2012.

FDA. What Are The Risks or Complications? U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2012)

Web. 10 March

2012.

HABBEMA, LOUIS. "Safety of Liposuction Using Exclusively Tumescent Local Anesthesia in

3,240

Consecutive Cases."Dermatologic Surgery 35.11 (2009): 1728-1735.Academic Search

Complete.

Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

Heftel, Christian. What Psychological Effects Can Liposuction Have?Ezine Articles. Health

and Fitness.

Cosmetic Surgery. (2009). Web. 10 Mar. 2012.

Klein, Jeffrey A. Two Standards for Tumescent Liposuction.Liposuction 101. Dermatologic

Surgery.

(1997). Web. 10 March 2012.

Personal Interview. Burns, Alyssa. 19 March 2012.


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REFLECTION

1. What was the hardest part of putting your sources together and writing this essay?I couldnt quite figure out how I wanted to put everything together in my paper. Making

an outline definitely helped me out on that part but it was still difficult on using my

sources in all of the right places and not citing them too much to where it would make the

paper seem like it was all just from other articles.

2. What do you like best about what youve done?I like learning about what I have learned. Through this project I have learned a lot about

liposuction that I probably wouldnt have researched before. Everything was really

interesting to me as well because I want to be a nurse so everything involving like surgery

or something with health interests me that am why I really liked writing what I wrote

about.

3. What class activities/brainstorming activities worked best to help you get your ideastogether?

Writing thesis questions

Talking headers

My coyote story, ad nauseum

Class peer reviews and responses to your essay

Working with others

**All of the above helped me to get my ideas together. The talking headers helped me

to separate everything in my paper in an organized manner. Your story gave me an

example of what my paper should involve and look like based on the correct format

and correct usage of sources. Working with others always helps me to do better on

major projects, and the class peer reviews helped me to see the bad parts in my paper

that I wouldnt have picked out or seem myself.

4. What have you learned about writing an essay with research that you didnt know before?What have you learned to do better than you did in the past?

I have learned that writing a research paper involved a lot of things and it takes a while to

put all of your ideas together to somewhat write the paper to perfection. I have learned

that it helps to do all of the little activities we did in class for our paper and it helps to

break everything up in little pieces. I have learned how to better organize my paper in a

way that makes since and not just a bunch of words cluttered around. I have also learned

to write about something that is interesting for me. That helps me to write a better paper

because I want to find out more and write more knowing how I like to write it.

*


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