Radio-Frequency Assisted Liposuction (RFAL)

Introduction:

The increased prevalence of obesity worldwide has grown the body contouring market, as patients demand more solutions. One of the most popular body contouring methods is liposuction. Pioneered in Europe in the early 1980’s as a simple fat aspirating technique, liposuction has quickly expanded its breadth to incorporate a variety of energy sources and modus operandi.

Many types of energies have been combined with standard liposuction techniques in an attempt to improve and optimize treatment outcomes. The current chapter is dedicated to the authors’ experience with the most recent addition to the liposuction family, Radio-Frequency Assisted Liposuction (RFAL). RFAL delivers RF energy for a thermal effect to the adipose tissue, skin and sub-dermal matrix in a minimally invasive manner. Enhancing the standard lipoplasty experience with a safe and consistent thermal influence provides the following key benefits:

• Blood vessel coagulation to reduce patient downtime through less bleeding and bruising.
• Tissue tightening to expand the range of patients to now include individuals who are obese and/or have compromised skin conditions (lax skin).
• Increased patient comfort and safety will increase consumer acceptance.
• Reduced procedure time and ease of treatment will increase physician acceptance.