The Effect of Laser Assisted Liposuction

ABSTRACT

The 635-nm low-level laser therapy was reported to "liquefy" or release stored fat in adipocytes by causing a transitory pore in the cell membrane to open, which permitted the fat content to go from inside to outside the cell. But some data do not support the belief that low-level laser therapy treatment before lipoplasty procedures disrupts tissue adipocyte structure. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of low-level laser- assisted liposuction. The use of low-level laser-assisted lipoplasty was evaluated in a series of 90 cases. There were 2 treatment groups in the clinical study. Subjects in the test group(39 patients; 31 thighs and 17 abdomen) received only liposuction on one side and laser-assisted liposuction on the other side during early 1liter aspiration time. 51 patients in the operated group received laser-assisted liposuction on both side. After adequate infiltration was obtained in all targeted body areas, a 635-nm electric diode laser was applied to the targeted areas for 12 to 15 minutes to liquefy the fat which was extracted immediately after laser treatment. On the side which received laser-assisted liposuction of the 39 test-group patients, we could gain much fat component(71+/-7.2 vs 63+/-8.6%) and it took short time(26+/-5.7 vs 31+/-7.7 minutes). Postoperative recovery was rapid, and complications were minimal. Low-level laser-assisted lipoplasty can be a valuable adjunctive tool for the performance of lipoplasty.