Thin thighs...brought to you by Switzerland!
Father of liposuction chews the fat
It’s nearly 30 years since liposuction was first performed by a Swiss doctor at his lakeside clinic in Lausanne.
In an interview with swissinfo, Dr Ulrich Kesselring explains how corrective surgery has evolved over the past few decades, and what the future holds.
The originator of the fat extraction technique is one of the world’s most celebrated plastic surgeons, counting Hollywood movie stars among his patients.
swissinfo: How did you come up with the idea of liposuction?
Dr Ulrich Kesselring: Up until 1976, we had been removing localised fat by making a 4cm incision, typically in the thigh, destroying the fat and then squeezing it out. Then we would rinse the cavity and suck out all the remaining fat. I suggested simply using suction for the whole procedure. At first we used extraction tubes or canulas that were as thick as my thumb, then they gradually became thinner. We remove the fat through a cavity with localised tunnels.I demonstrated the procedure on a course in 1977, and details were published in 1978. In the United States it soon became the number one aesthetic plastic surgery procedure.
Dr Ulrich Kesselring, inventor of liposuction (swissinfo)
swissinfo: Who practises liposuction these days?
U.K.: Everybody from dermatologists to general practitioners. I know of at least two general practitioners who offer liposuction, even though they have no training in plastic surgery. I’m not saying it can’t be learned. But what happens if you have a complication? If you remove too much blood and fat, the patient may bleed to death. If you carry out liposuction on the abdomen you could perforate it. You could also perforate the gut and cause peritonitis.
swissinfo: So how can patients be sure they are in safe hands?
U.K.: Call the Swiss Society for Aesthetic Surgery and they will give you a list of members with their specialities. The fact that a member is on that list is proof of adequate training.
swissinfo: How often do things go wrong during surgery?
U.K.: Not as often as one might think. Other disciplines have more claims. About a quarter of all plastic-surgery claims lead to compensation. We very rarely have any problems in our clinic, as we have well trained doctors.
swissinfo: Do you still carry out liposuction?
U.K.: It is one of the services I offer. But because I have more patients than I need, I can pick and choose what I want to do. I send away 25-28 per cent of the people who come to my clinic, and I tell my young partner he must never operate just to make a fast buck.I tend to take on very favourable cases where the chances of success are high. It’s better for my reputation. If the results are not good, the patient will be unhappy and that’s bad publicity. The patients should not be too old, and they should have resilient skin. It’s no problem if they just want to lose a couple of packages of fat. If they are 10-15 kilos overweight, this is not a job for me. If you take away large amounts of fat, the skin will not be able to do that much shrinking.
swissinfo: What is the most common procedure carried out at your clinic?
U.K.: Probably facelifts. I tend to facelift patients who first came to me for liposuction at the age of 25, then had their eyelids done at 35. There’s another sort of patient who thinks that aesthetic plastic surgery is like buying new clothes. They swap and change from year to year. If people are happy, they tend to stick with their plastic surgeon.
swissinfo: Has the lifting procedure been refined over the years?
U.K.: Yes, it has; but I don’t think we will go much further with the knife. I think the future lies with bioengineering. Look at Botox and how much we have learned about this in the past 15 years.
swissinfo: Why are you concerned about "fillers" on the market?
U.K.: Fillers are injectables we use to change volume or form, mainly around the face. Sometimes the patient develops a negative reaction to the product after a few years. At first the body tries to metabolise it; if it can’t, as with Plexiglass, the body envelops the foreign matter with living tissue, creating a lumpy appearance on the skin, deforming the patient.I believe products should only be sold if they have been tested on human beings for at least ten years.
swissinfo-interview: Julie Hunt in Lausanne
It’s nearly 30 years since liposuction was first performed by a Swiss doctor at his lakeside clinic in Lausanne.
In an interview with swissinfo, Dr Ulrich Kesselring explains how corrective surgery has evolved over the past few decades, and what the future holds.
The originator of the fat extraction technique is one of the world’s most celebrated plastic surgeons, counting Hollywood movie stars among his patients.
swissinfo: How did you come up with the idea of liposuction?
Dr Ulrich Kesselring: Up until 1976, we had been removing localised fat by making a 4cm incision, typically in the thigh, destroying the fat and then squeezing it out. Then we would rinse the cavity and suck out all the remaining fat. I suggested simply using suction for the whole procedure. At first we used extraction tubes or canulas that were as thick as my thumb, then they gradually became thinner. We remove the fat through a cavity with localised tunnels.I demonstrated the procedure on a course in 1977, and details were published in 1978. In the United States it soon became the number one aesthetic plastic surgery procedure.
Dr Ulrich Kesselring, inventor of liposuction (swissinfo)
swissinfo: Who practises liposuction these days?
U.K.: Everybody from dermatologists to general practitioners. I know of at least two general practitioners who offer liposuction, even though they have no training in plastic surgery. I’m not saying it can’t be learned. But what happens if you have a complication? If you remove too much blood and fat, the patient may bleed to death. If you carry out liposuction on the abdomen you could perforate it. You could also perforate the gut and cause peritonitis.
swissinfo: So how can patients be sure they are in safe hands?
U.K.: Call the Swiss Society for Aesthetic Surgery and they will give you a list of members with their specialities. The fact that a member is on that list is proof of adequate training.
swissinfo: How often do things go wrong during surgery?
U.K.: Not as often as one might think. Other disciplines have more claims. About a quarter of all plastic-surgery claims lead to compensation. We very rarely have any problems in our clinic, as we have well trained doctors.
swissinfo: Do you still carry out liposuction?
U.K.: It is one of the services I offer. But because I have more patients than I need, I can pick and choose what I want to do. I send away 25-28 per cent of the people who come to my clinic, and I tell my young partner he must never operate just to make a fast buck.I tend to take on very favourable cases where the chances of success are high. It’s better for my reputation. If the results are not good, the patient will be unhappy and that’s bad publicity. The patients should not be too old, and they should have resilient skin. It’s no problem if they just want to lose a couple of packages of fat. If they are 10-15 kilos overweight, this is not a job for me. If you take away large amounts of fat, the skin will not be able to do that much shrinking.
swissinfo: What is the most common procedure carried out at your clinic?
U.K.: Probably facelifts. I tend to facelift patients who first came to me for liposuction at the age of 25, then had their eyelids done at 35. There’s another sort of patient who thinks that aesthetic plastic surgery is like buying new clothes. They swap and change from year to year. If people are happy, they tend to stick with their plastic surgeon.
swissinfo: Has the lifting procedure been refined over the years?
U.K.: Yes, it has; but I don’t think we will go much further with the knife. I think the future lies with bioengineering. Look at Botox and how much we have learned about this in the past 15 years.
swissinfo: Why are you concerned about "fillers" on the market?
U.K.: Fillers are injectables we use to change volume or form, mainly around the face. Sometimes the patient develops a negative reaction to the product after a few years. At first the body tries to metabolise it; if it can’t, as with Plexiglass, the body envelops the foreign matter with living tissue, creating a lumpy appearance on the skin, deforming the patient.I believe products should only be sold if they have been tested on human beings for at least ten years.
swissinfo-interview: Julie Hunt in Lausanne
posted by Swizzies at 13:26
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