Body-conscious Americans are flocking to a new, more-expensive liposuction technique, but there’s scant evidence that it works any better than tried-and-true surgical body sculpting.
More Top Picks Best Premium Thermoses For Hot Drinks
Smartlipo, introduced in the U.S. just more than a year ago, uses a laser that melts excess fat so it can be drawn away from the body. The procedure is touted on physician Web sites and in beauty publications as a revolutionary way to zap and remove fat and tighten skin. So far, several thousand people have been treated with Smartlipo, according to its U.S. marketer, Cynosure of Westford, Mass.
But many cosmetic surgeons say Smart-lipo isn’t any more effective than tumescent liposuction, the medical standard for body sculpting. Both procedures require local anesthesia, are minimally invasive and generally allow the patient to return to regular activities within a couple of days. Smartlipo, however, can add many hundreds of dollars or more to the $3,000 to $10,000 cost of tumescent lipo, a price that varies widely depending on the surgeon and number of treated body areas.
“Smartlipo is a marketing gimmick to get people through the door,” says William Coleman III, editor of the monthly journal of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. There’s no scientific evidence in human tests that Smartlipo improves outcomes, tightens skin or speeds recovery, compared to tumescent liposuction, Coleman says.
“It’s typical of new technologies that some physicians will at first be skeptical,” says Michael Davin, Cynosure’s chief executive. The company doesn’t claim Smartlipo is superior to tumescent liposuction. But some individual cosmetic surgeons say lasers are a welcome addition to liposuction technology and that Smartlipo is helping to revive interest in liposuction.
Smartlipo “helps liquefy the fat to make it easier to remove, allowing me to sculpt areas better,” says Stephen Greenberg, a New York plastic surgeon who recently paid $150,000 for the Smartlipo laser used to perform the procedure. “Many of my patients come in specifically asking for [Smartlipo] after hearing other people talking about it,” he says.
HOW IT WORKS
When the Smartlipo laser is used, small incisions are made in the skin of body areas to be treated. Patients’ fat is infused with a fluid solution, including numbing drugs, to compress blood vessels and minimize blood loss. The laser tip is inserted through the incisions, and the fat it melts is siphoned out of the body through tubes.