What is the tumescent technique?
The tumescent technique involves injection beneath the skin of large volumes of salt water containing lidocaine, a local anesthetic and small amounts of adrenaline, a naturally occurring hormone which shrinks blood vessels. By injecting this solution to the fat prior to performing liposuction the plastic surgeon numbs the tissues and shrinks the blood vessels thereby eliminating pain and reducing and minimizing bleeding, bruising, and swelling. The tumescent technique permits some patients who were previously treated under general anesthesia to be treated under local anesthesia with sedation.
The tumescent technique refers to the performance of liposuction under local anesthesia; in these cases there are much higher concentrations of local anesthesia in the tumescent solution. Patients who do not want to undergo general anesthesia often elect for this method of liposuction. Usually smaller volumes are removed and patients are able to return to work within a day or two.
The tumescent technique for local anesthesia involves the injection of large volumes of very dilute lidocaine (local anesthetic) and epinephrine (drug that shrinks capillaries) into subcutaneous fat. The word tumescent means swollen and firm. With the tumescent technique, the volume of dilute lidocaine that is injected into fat is so large that the targeted areas literally become tumescent (swollen and firm). The tumescent technique produces profound and long-lasting local anesthesia of the skin and subcutaneous fat. Tumescent liposuction designates a form of liposuction that uses tumescent local anesthesia.
The tumescent technique for local anesthesia involves the injection of large volumes of very dilute lidocaine (local anesthetic) and epinephrine (drug that shrinks capillaries) into subcutaneous fat. The word tumescent means swollen and firm. With the tumescent technique, the volume of dilute lidocaine that is injected into fat is so large that the targeted areas literally become tumescent (swollen and firm). The tumescent technique produces profound and long-lasting local anesthesia of the skin and subcutaneous fat.
The tumescent technique involves injection beneath the skin of large volumes of salt water containing lidocaine, a local anesthetic, and small amounts of adrenaline, a naturally occurring hormone which shrinks blood vessels. By injecting this solution into the fat prior to performing liposuction the plastic surgeon numbs the tissues and shrinks the blood vessels, thereby eliminating pain and reducing and minimizing bleeding, bruising, and swelling. The tumescent technique permits some patients who were previously treated under general anesthesia to be treated under local anesthesia with sedation.
