Happy weekend! Last week we talked about pre-operative cosmetic photos of your patient and today we measure, measure and measure!  It is of critical importance to take pre and post-operative measurements of all areas to be treated by liposuction.  Why? Because measurements are an objective tool used to asses the changes after liposuction.  Always measure the circumference of the abdomen at the level of the umbilicus (“true waist”) as shown in this video.  Patients would be very happy to see the loss in inches/centimeters post-lipo! 

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It is Transformation Tuesday and the most reliable and accurate way to document your patients’ body transformation, in addition to the patients’ medical record,  is by taking photos at the right angles and using the right equipment.  This video blog shows you how to take pre-operative cosmetic photos of the patient, as previously discussed in a blog. The critical elements to include are:

• Use a black or electric blue background.
• Use disposable underwear, of a solid color, preferably black.  Women should wear a strapless bra and thong underwear.  Men should wear shorts. 
• Use a black or electric blue background. 
• Avoid hyperextension of the extremities; hands should be placed in anatomical position on the sides or at heart level, depending on the angle. 
• Take all photos in the same area, with the same lightening and at the same distance. 
• Be CONSISTENT.  Take pre and all post-op photos including all the elements specified above.

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Happy Monday and hope you had a fantastic weekend!  Today we talk about a tool that protects the skin and your patients will be so very thankful and happy. This video shows you what are the Clinimed™ EXO-Ports Liposuction Skin Ports and how to use them. These ports help protect the skin from frictional and thermal abrasions during a liposuction procedure.

We placed two ports only on the patient’s right abdomen, upper and lower, and we didn’t tell the patient what the ports were for.  We asked the patient to give us feedback about the healing process of the abdominal skin incisions.  She reported that the incisions on her right side of the abdomen healed faster, in 4 to 5 days they were completely closed and healed and there were no raw areas of redness, compared to the left side, which took 7-8 days.

From my perspective, the ports are easy to place; it only takes a few additional minutes to suture them in place.  The cannulas easily glide in and out without any friction on the skin surrounding the incisions.  The ports are comfortable for the patient, even when the patient was constantly changing positions throughout the surgery.  I highly recommend the ports.  Give them a try!  Connect with us at dravellanet.com.

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Happy FAT Tuesday! It’s time to talk about the fat injector “gun”.  Fat transfer is performed by the use of syringes or a fat injector attached to cannulas of various sizes depending on the area of the body to be treated.  Small syringes (1 cc) are used to transfer fat to small areas like the face, hands, labia majora, as small quantities of the graft and precision of technique are needed in these areas.

Larges areas to volumize with autologous fat include the breasts, the “hip dips” and the buttocks.  Larger syringes (20 cc, 30 cc, 60 cc) are commonly used to transfer fat to these areas.  Multiples syringes are usually used to speed up the process resulting on an increase in use of disposables and cost. 

An alternative to the use of syringes would be a reusable fat injector.  There are various types and sizes; some designs only include the handle and disposable syringes of various sizes can be adjusted into the handle and other designs have an integrated, reusable syringe of different sizes, commonly 25 cc and 50 cc.  

The advantages of the fat injector “gun” are:

1.  It’s reusable:  it can be sterilized in the autoclave.

2.  It can be calibrated to deposit a pre-set amount of fat in a given area.  This advantage can avoiding large amounts of fat to be deposited in a given area that could potentially lead to fat necrosis.

3.  Avoids the increase in the amount of disposables.

A disadvantage of the gun injector would be it’s size as it could be consider bulky and hard to manipulate.  Nonetheless, there’s a learning curve for everything in surgery.  Try it and decide on your own! Like I always say in my posts #fatisgold.

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Welcome Summer!  Great training weekend in Orlando, FL!  This past June 11th, leading the morning session on Beautifill Fat Harvesting, Natural Breast Augmentation with Autologous Fat, and Liposculpting of the Abdomen. 

Alma offers continuous advanced educational trainings to Beautifill specialists to further advance their skills and techniques.

Enjoy and Connect with us dravellanet.com #fatisgold

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