Liposuction Glossary

Abdominoplasty: Tummy tuck.

Adipocytes: Fat cells.

Adipose tissue: Fat.

Anesthetic: Drugs that cause the loss of feeling or sensation.

Cannula, SAL: A hollow tube typically with one or more openings near the tip used for suction-assisted lipoplasty.

Dermis: Skin.

Dimpling: A condition marked by the formation of dimples; can be either natural or artificial.

Edema: Swelling caused by large amount of fluid in cells or tissues.

Emboli: Something that blocks a blood vessel.

Embolism: The blocking of a blood vessel or organ by pieces of matter such as fat.

Emulsify: To break up into small pieces.

Epinephrine/ Adrenaline: A potent stimulant (sympathomimetic) that is the principal blood-pressure-raising hormone. It is used as a heart stimulant, a vasoconstrictor, which narrows veins to control hemorrhages of the skin, and as a muscle relaxant for bronchial asthma. It is also a drug injected before liposuction to reduce bleeding during the procedure.

Fat Suction: Use of suction to remove liquefied fat, usually through a cannula.

Gynecomastia: Abnormally large mammary glands in males, which can occur during normal adolescence or later in life as weight and hormone levels fluctuate.

Hematoma: A mass of blood that is typically confined within an organ, tissue, space, or potential space; may result from a broken blood vessel.

Infection: Invasion by and multiplication of bacteria or microorganisms that can produce tissue injury.

Lidocaine: An anesthetic that may be injected in large amounts of liquid during liposuction.

Lipectomy: The surgical removal of fatty tissues.

Lipolysis: Splitting or chemical decomposition of fat.

Lipolytic: Relating to or causing lipolysis.

Lipoplasty: The surgical removal and/or displacement of fatty or lipid substance.

Liposuction: A method of removing unwanted subcutaneous fat using a hollow cannula and vacuum suction combined with mechanical avulsion to remove adipose cells.

Pulmonary embolism: Pieces of fat may find their way into the blood stream and get stuck in the lungs during liposuction. This causes shortness of breath or trouble breathing.

Sedative: A drug which helps a person to relax, and it may make them feel sleepy.

Seroma: A collection of fluid from the blood that has pooled at the liposuction site.

Skin necrosis: The death of one or more skin cells or portion of an organ. Often results in irreversible damage.

Subcutaneous fat: Fatty tissue located beneath the subdermal fat layer.

Subdermal fat: Fatty tissue located beneath the dermis.

Suction-assisted lipoplasty (SAL): The equivalent to liposuction, which is a method of removing unwanted subcutaneous fat using a hollow cannula and vacuum suction combined with mechanical avulsion to remove adipose cells.

Tumescent technique: The injection of very large volumes of dilute Lidocaine with epinephrine into the subcutaneous fat so that the tissues become swollen and firm.

Ultrasound-assisted Lipoplasty (UAL): The use of ultrasonic waves to emulsify fat, combined with low level suction to remove emulsion.

Wet technique: Solution infiltrated into the subcutaneous tissue prior to liposuction. Like the tumescent technique, this usually contains epinephrine and Lidocaine. However, the ratio of infiltrate to aspirate differs from the tumescent technique.

Xylocaine: A local anesthetic equivalent to Lidocaine