Lipoplasty Combined with Percutaneous Radiofrequency Dermaplasty: A New Strategy for Body Contouring.

BACKGROUND: A new technique in plastic surgery termed percutaneous radiofrequency dermaplasty (PRD) is described. Customized radiofrequency energy is applied via the percutaneous route to produce skin tightening and fascia contraction at body temperature, avoiding thermal injury. We combine PRD with lipoplasty and call this combined procedure dermaplasty-assisted lipoplasty (DAL). The purpose of this study was to review both the safety and efficacy of DAL. METHODS: We developed the required novel device and technique to perform DAL and then performed a clinical trial including Type I and Type II lipodystrophy female patients undergoing a primary liposuction of the circumferential trunk. The trial comprised two phases. In Phase I, 51 patients were included in a prospective, comparative, controlled trial and divided into two groups. In Group 1, 29 patients underwent DAL, and in Group 2, 22 patients underwent a standard suction-assisted lipectomy (SAL) alone. In Phase II, 84 patients underwent DAL, including 9 cases initially scheduled for a mini-abdominoplasty. RESULTS: Phase I: We found better aesthetic results with DAL (93.1%) than with SAL alone (72.7%) [p < .05]. Postoperative correction of flaccid skin was superior with DAL (93.1%) than with SAL alone (36.4%) [p < .01]. Phase II: DAL achieved good-to-excellent aesthetic results in 94% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: DAL was found to be a reliable and safe treatment for fat removal with concomitant skin and fascia tightening but without compromising the viability of the overlying skin. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

The universal serial bus endoscope: design and initial clinical experience.

Endoscopic forehead lift is a well-established procedure in aesthetic plastic surgery. Many agree that currently available video-endoscopic equipment is bulky, multipieced and sometimes cumbersome in the operating theater. A novel system, the Universal Serial Bus Endoscope (USBE) was designed to simplify and reduce the number of necessary equipment pieces in the endoscopic setup. The USBE is attached by a single cable to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port of a laptop computer. A built-in miniaturized cold light source provides illumination. A built-in digital camera chip enables procedure recording. The real-time images and movies obtained with USBE are displayed on the computer's screen and recorded on the laptop's hard disk drive. In this study, 25 patients underwent endoscopic browlift using the USBE system to test its clinical usefulness, all with good results and without complications or need for revision. The USBE was found to be reliable and easier to use than current video-endoscope equipment. The operative time needed to complete the procedure by the authors was reduced approximately 50%. The design and main technical characteristics of the USBE are presented.