Many people don’t know that the modern tumescent liposuction was not invented by the plastic surgeon; it was actually invented by a dermatologist. Dr. Jeffrey Klein is a dermatologic surgeon practicing in California and invented the technique for tumescent local anesthesia and tumescent liposuction. Prior to1986, all liposuction surgeries were done under general anesthesia, were associated with significant surgical blood loss and prolonged post-operative recovery of two or more weeks. The advent of tumescent liposuction permitted liposuction to be done totally by local anesthesia with virtually no blood loss. Within a few years tumescent liposuction became the worldwide standard of care.
Many potential dangers and risks of liposuction are associated with general anesthesia, excessively large volumes of liposuction done on a single day, and combining liposuction with other unrelated procedures. Performing tumescent liposuction avoids all these risks factors. There is no general anesthesia associated post-operative nausea and vomiting. Patients typically return to work in one to two days and need only wear postoperative elastic support garments after their surgery. Many people are off their pain pills in a few days or even the next day and turn to Tylenol for postoperative analgesic. Today tumescent liposuction continues to be the world’s safest and most comfortable form of liposuction with the quickest recovery.
