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What is Micro Liposuction?

Marjorie McAtee
Marjorie McAtee

Micro liposuction is a type of liposuction procedure that generally seeks to target small areas of fatty tissue accumulation on the body. Patients are generally in good health and enjoy a healthy body weight, but may still have pockets of fatty tissue on some areas of the body. Patients often seek micro liposuction to improve the appearance of the inner thighs, outer hips, abdomen, buttocks, or flanks. Fat deposits on these areas can be hard to burn off with diet and exercise alone. Micro liposuction is usually performed under local anesthesia, and it uses very small surgical tools so that the surgeon can contour small areas of the body with minimal risk of damage to the skin.

Patients who choose micro liposuction typically want to remove small fatty deposits from areas such as the inner thighs, knees, buttocks, chin, or underarms. Fatty tissue deposits in these locations are common, even in people who aren't overweight. Sometimes traditional exercise and dieting cannot work off these areas of fat. Micro liposuction can safely remove fatty tissue deposits from beneath the skin. Because the procedure removes the fat cells themselves, fat in these areas usually doesn't return.

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Nurse

Surgeons typically employ microcannulae to perform micro liposuction. These very small steel tubes have openings near the tip to allow fat to be suctioned out from under the skin. These cannulae are generally much smaller than the cannulae typically used to perform other types of liposuction. They usually remove very small amounts of fat at a time, allowing the surgeon more control over how and where to remove subcutaneous fat.

This is considered a minimally invasive form of liposuction, and most patients require only local anesthesia. Patients typically return home after the procedure is completed. Most patients can return to work the next day. Light activity is generally encouraged from the first day of the recovery period.

The micro liposuction procedure is believed to be far less risky than other forms of liposuction. It normally requires only local anesthesia, so patients aren't usually subjected to the risks associated with general anesthesia. Rates of infection following a micro liposuction procedure are low. Bruising, bleeding, pain and soreness after the procedure aren't usually considered severe. Scarring from the surgical incisions is generally minimal, because this procedure usually requires fewer, and smaller, incisions than other liposuction procedures.

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