Clinical and histopathological analysis of tissue retraction in tumescent liposuction assisted by external ultrasound.

Multiple subjective evaluations and valuations in clinical studies have suggested that the use of external ultrasound in liposuction favors the degree of tissue retraction. However, studies do not exist that evaluate with objective parameters the degree of tissue retraction after liposuction assisted with external ultrasound. It is for this reason that a comparative clinical trial was carried out in 13 female patients to establish clinically and histopathologically the degree of tissue retraction that is produced after tumescent liposuction assisted by external ultrasound compared with the classic tumescent technique. All patients were tattooed in each hemiabdomen with reference points that formed a 7 x 7-cm square. Abdominal tumescent liposuction was carried out in all patients, with external ultrasound applied to the right hemiabdomen only, and without specifying to the patient the side on which the ultrasound was applied. The areas were measured and biopsies were acquired in each hemiabdomen 72 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. The samples were evaluated by the same pathologist in a double-blind study. A survey of the patients was carried out regarding their appreciation of the results at the end of 3 months. On physical evaluation of the tattooed square, none of the thirteen patients presented significant differences in skin retraction (95% dependability by means of Student's t-test). The histological results showed that external ultrasound increased the degree of edema, vascular congestion, and inflammatory infiltration in the dermis during the first 3 months postoperatively. However, after 6 months no differences existed. Clinically, no patient observed a marked difference between the two hemiabdominal areas; an equal aesthetic result was obtained on both sides. In this clinical comparative trial, external ultrasound as a complementary method to tumescent liposuction did not increase the degree of tissue retraction after the liposuction, nor did it prove to be a determining factor in the immediate postoperative evolution.