Liposuction has entered a new era. There’s now a procedure that melts fat and tightens skin — all in the same operation.
Liposuction technology has come a long way over the past several decades, with the advent of everything from ultrasound-assisted liposuction to power-assisted, tumescent, body-jet and even microcannula liposuction. Now, another new technique called SmartLipo™ uses laser energy to liquify fat and tighten skin.
“SmartLipo is a procedure that’s very popular and gives a great result,” notes California-based plastic surgeon Dr. Christine Petti, who uses SmartLipo in her practice.
During a Smartlipo Laser Body Sculpting Laserlipolysis procedure, a plastic surgeon inserts a lightweight, flexible wand tool into fatty tissue and melts the patient’s fat by using a specific laser wavelength. A separate tube sucks away the fat, as with traditional liposuction. Then, the surgeon uses a different laser wavelength to create heat under the dermis, which causes the skin collagen to contract. This second step eliminates the time-honored problem of patients dealing with loose skin after liposuction. The skin contraction process continues over a period of three to six months.
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Study finds approach works over short-term but long-term maintenance needs further evaluation.
Low-level laser therapy can reduce the circumference of certain areas of the body by reducing the adipose tissue layer, according to a study in the December issue of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine.
Robert F. Jackson, M.D., of River View Surgery Center in Marion, Ind., and colleagues conducted a study of 67 adults aged 18 to 65 years with a body mass index of 25 to 30 kg/m2 who were randomized to receive either noninvasive laser treatment or a sham treatment for two weeks.
The researchers found that participants in the treatment group had a 3.51 inch overall reduction in total circumference across three body areas, including waist (−0.98 inches), hip (−1.05 inches) and bilateral thigh (−0.65 inches), while subjects in the control group had a 0.684 inch overall reduction.
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Steroid injections into the eye slowed diabetes-related eye disease, though lasers remain the treatment of choice because of side effects related to the steroids, new research shows.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute gave 693 men and women who had diabetic retinopathy with macular edema either injections of a corticosteroid into their eyes as often as every four months or a laser photocoagulation, the standard treatment. The average age of the participants was 63.
Retinopathy is a long-term complication of diabetes that can lead to blindness. Macular edema, which can further interfere with vision, is a swelling of the central portion of the retina caused by fluid leakage.
Over time, retinopathy can advance to proliferative diabetic retinopathy, in which abnormal blood vessels grow on the optic nerve in the back of the eye, which communicates information from the retina to the brain, or elsewhere on the light-sensitive retina. The study authors found that steroid treatments reduced the risk of progression of diabetic retinopathy.
However, steroids did not prevent the progression of macular edema, according to the study.
And while steroids did help to improve the vision of participants, the results were no better than the laser treatments. Because the use of steroids in the eye can increase the risk of other eye diseases, including glaucoma and cataracts, lasers remain the treatment of choice for now, said lead study author Neil Bressler, a professor of ophthalmology and chief of the retina division of the eye institute.
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THE LASER COMB
Does it really work?
Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) can be quite effective when used properly. LLLT is certainly no miracle cure for hair loss. But the laser comb has been OK’d by the Food and Drug Administration for both safety AND effectiveness. It is cleared for hair growth and the treatment of hair loss. Like other non-invasive treatments, some patients get better results than others, and compliance (with directions) is certainly a big issue. However, there are patients who seem to be exceptional responders to this therapy. LLLT is a non-chemical, non-invasive option to help people grow fuller, thicker, healthier hair.
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Much to the delight of oncologists, a highly energetic ion beam in an accurately defined dose that provides a pin-sharp (and cost-effective) radiation treatment of tumors has been experimentally demonstrated.
Physicists at the Munich Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP), led by Dr. Dietrich Habs, professor at Ludwig Maximilian University, in cooperation with scientists at the Max Born Institute in Berlin, have published their results in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters. MAP is a German Research Foundation Cluster of Excellence.
According to the group, modern techniques based on intense laser pulses may in the future replace expensive conventional particle accelerators.
Carbon beams are considered to be the most effective method of cancer therapy, as tumors are destroyed permanently with minimum trauma. Conventional x-rays or electron beams, on the other hand, cause significant damage to the surrounding healthy tissue on their pathway into the body.
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Shining a laser on your ear is probably the last thing a smoker would think of to kill their cravings.
But two heavy smokers say this simple treatment has allowed them to kick the habit for good.
For both their smoking addiction had hit an all-time low – Paul Oram was smoking up to 80 cigarettes a day and his ex-wife Kim Seal suffered two heart attacks at the age of 39.
But a revolutionary therapy, which shines a laser pen on acupuncture points on the face and hands, has worked wonders for the pair.
The only snag was Mr Oram had to go all the way to Peru to find out about it.
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Some massage therapists’ legal scope of practice allows the use of lasers – and utilizing this tool in session could help reduce massage clients’ pain.
New research shows low-level laser therapy (LLLT) reduces pain after treatment for non-specific neck pain.
Chronic neck pain is a highly prevalent condition, affecting 10 to 24 percent of the population, according to a press release from the University of Sydney, Australia, where the study’s researchers are.
LLLT uses noninvasive, painless laser irradiation to aid tissue repair, relieve pain and stimulate acupuncture points. Incidence of adverse effects is low and similar to that of placebo, with no reports of serious events, the release noted.
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BEAMING mum Wendy Noble proudly cradles her tiny twin sons – after they were saved by laser surgery in the WOMB.
Wendy, 33, was just 18 weeks pregnant when doctors revealed unborn Owen and Aiden could die without the risky op.
They had rare twin-to-twin syndrome which meant Owen – the stronger of the two babies – was starving his brother of vital nutrients, while he got too much.
But the tots pulled through – following yet more major surgery just days after they were born ten weeks premature.
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Disability, John Spletzer believes, should no longer pose any obstacle to mobility.. A blind person may not be able to see or a paraplegic to walk, but each can access the technology available to the rest of the world. And that technology has the potential to serve as a person’s feet, hands and eyes and thus restore his ability to interact with his environment.
Spletzer, an associate professor of computer science and engineering, recently received a five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a robotic wheelchair that navigates on its own, with no human guidance or remote control, through a crowded city.
Armed with high-fidelity lasers and detailed maps, the “smart” wheelchair will avoid stationery objects like parking meters and light poles as well as “random events” like pedestrians and bicyclists. It will transport users who may not be able to see or walk to their doctor’s appointments, to the pharmacy, to the grocery store.
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Macular degeneration is on a long list of problems set to get worse as Australia’s population ages, but a new treatment could prevent it.
A Melbourne researcher has been working for more than a decade on finding a better treatment.
She is now trying a new type of laser and hopes it will be able to stop the disease before the damage begins.
The macula is a small area at the back of the eye, responsible not only for central vision, but also acute vision. Every time you switch on the lights or open the curtain it absorbs the extra light by shedding a membrane.
The debris is supposed to be broken down but as people age, the cells responsible for that can stop doing their job.
The head of Macular Research at the Centre for Eye Research Australia, Professor Robyn Guymer, says that is believed to be the cause of macular degeneration.
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