liposuction final paper

8/2/2019 Liposuction Final Paper

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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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Fluid imbalance results when fat tissue which contains a lot of liquid is removed during

liposuction, as the FDA explains, or too much fluid can be injected during liposuction. This is

the main complication that surgeons watch the patient for after surgery before they are released.

This is very serious and it is very important for this to be monitored after surgery to prevent

further damage. Even though this is monitored it can still happen once the patient is sent home

and can cause heart problems, excessive amounts of fluid in the lungs, or kidney problems.

Too much exposure of the anesthesia is another common, dangerous surgical

complication. Lidocaine is the numbing drug that is used as the local anesthesia in tumescent

liposuction. The FDA points out that large volumes of liquid with lidocaine can be injected

during liposuction, which results in high dangerous doses of lidocaine. The symptoms of this

complication involves: lightheadedness, restlessness, drowsiness, tinnitus (the ringing of the

ears), slurred speech, numbing in the lips and mouth, shivering, and muscle twitching. If the

patient experiences any of these symptoms then they must go see a doctor as soon as possible

before any more damage is caused.

The most common, not so dangerous complications that can happen are swelling, skin

necrosis, and burns. Swelling is common and is not unheard of around a surgical site. In some

cases, swelling continues for a couple of weeks after the surgery, but should not scare the patient.

Skin necrosis happens when the skin right above the site where the liposuction occurred literally

dies. The skin that dies may change color, or start to fall off of the body. Large areas of skin

necrosis need to be monitored to prevent a dangerous infection. Burning develops when the

liposuction surgical instrument becomes unusually hot and can cause burning around the surgical

site. Although some of these complications arent as dangerous or common as others its


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important for patients to know all of the risks involved so that they can know how to prevent

them after their surgery has taken place.

Psychological Effects of Having Liposuction

Many people do not consider the psychological effects that take place after they undergo

a cosmetic procedure. This is most likely the most dangerous side effects of having liposuction

because negative psychological changes can stick with a person for a long time and can change

them in horrible ways. Christian Heftel mentioned in his article, What Psychological Effects

Can Liposuction Have? that many patients who come out of a cosmetic procedure with a

negative body image can translate into poor self-confidence, anxiety, and depression. Many

people seek cosmetic surgery to alleviate themselves from a poor body image, but sometimes

come out of surgery with a body image that was worse than before. Regret soon takes place as

one could wonder what all the money was for when they feel as if things are worse than before.

Numerous patients go into surgery with high expectations of what they want to look like

after their surgery is over. Most of the time their high hopes are let down and that is what results

in a negative body image. Patients who already have a history of anxiety and depression are just

setting themselves up for disaster because they wont be able to handle negative side effects.

After disappointment takes its toll on the patient they begin to consider more cosmetic surgery to

fix their problem. More surgeries will not fix their problem and in time the patient will hit rock

bottom when they realize they arent who they want to be.

The main reason why people undergo plastic surgery is because they arent satisfied with

the way their bodies look. It is important for people to view themselves in a positive way because

as Christian Heftel says, it can shape many of our mental attributes in life. People do not


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realize how their body image effects them in so many different ways. People should go into

surgery without high hopes, so that when they come out of surgery they dont turn into a

downward spiral if they arent completely satisfied.

I interviewed Alyssa Burns who had a breast augmentation at the age of 19 to describe

how plastic surgery can be dangerous in psychological attributes. Even though she did not have

liposuction her story still shows the psychological side effects of having plastic surgery. They are

all the same throughout every plastic surgery procedure. She had the surgery because the size of

her breasts was abnormally large and caused major back pains. Even though she had the surgery

because she needed it, it took a major toll on her. Alyssa said that after the surgery she ended up

gaining fifty pounds and her level of self-esteem dropped significantly because she wasnt

completely satisfied with the way she looked. Two years later she is still working hard to bring

her self-esteem back to the way that it was.

Her story is the picture perfect example of how any cosmetic procedure can take its toll

on a person psychologically. It is important for people to know how plastic surgery could

possibly ruins a persons life if they do not know all of the information ofrisks and

complications and take the time to really understand them. Liposuction is by far the safest

cosmetic procedure in the world, but if certain precautions havent taken place or informed

consent (a doctor must inform a patient of the procedure by law) has been ignored then it could

possibly be dangerous. Every patient should be informed and every patient should be aware of

what they could possibly get themselves into. After all liposuction does not always make a

persons body look better; it could actually do the reverse and make their body look worse than

before the surgery.


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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.

Burns, Alyssa. Personal Interview. 19 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.

Yoho, Robert. What Are The Risks or Complications? United States. Food and Drug

Administration.(2012) Web. 10 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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liposuction final paper

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