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Liposuction in Portland Gets New Innovation

Dr. Douglas J. Key, a Portland liposuction specialist, is now offering a new technique in liposuction, which offers reduced risk, increased patient comfort, and makes the use of a patient's own fat for fat transfer procedures a more viable option.

Portland, Oregon (March 2009) – Patients seeking liposuction in Portland now have a new option for the permanent removal of fat deposits. Dr. Douglas J. Key, founder of the Key Laser Institute for Aesthetic Medicine®, is the first doctor in the Western United States to offer Body-Jet assisted liposuction for body contouring.

"Body-Jet assisted liposuction represents a real improvement over traditional tumescent liposuction," states Dr. Key. "Patients experience a gentler procedure, which can be performed under local anesthesia." Additionally, since this approach keeps the fat cells more intact, the potential to use a patient's own fat for lipografting is increased.

Lipografting, or fat transfer, is the use of harvested fat to augment other parts of the body, such as the face, hands, or even breasts. In the past, large volumes of fat could not be harvested because traditional liposuction was too damaging to the fat cells. With Body-Jet assisted liposuction in Portland, fat cells are kept more viable, opening the door for the re-use and re-positioning of these cells in other areas.

Traditional liposuction employs the tumescent technique, which floods the tissue with a numbing solution prior to aspiration. This injection of fluid comes in the form of a unidirectional stream that pumps the treatment area full of the anesthetic solution. Body-Jet uses a fine, multi-directional spray to gently infiltrate the tissue with the solution, which causes less damage to the fat cells and to surrounding tissue. This approach requires much less of the solution – 25% of that required with the traditional technique – causing less swelling and increased patient comfort.

The Body-Jet cannula (surgical wand) gently irrigates the treatment area while simultaneously suctioning the fat, which results in much less trauma to the fat cells and surrounding tissue. "The solution is pressed between the fat cells, not into the fat cells, thus preserving their viability," notes Dr. Key. "This approach also allows physicians to more carefully assess the contours being created during the procedure, greatly reducing the need for corrective procedures later."

"The Body-Jet essentially flushes the fat cells away, leaving surrounding tissue much less disrupted," adds Dr. Key. This more natural process allows for a quicker, more comfortable recovery, and possibly improved skin tone following the procedure. "Less mechanical disruption means less tissue damage, which may allow for improved skin tightening after fat removal."

Through the use of Body-Jet technology along with other body contouring options, Dr. Key is able to offer his Oregon liposuction patients state of the art procedures with increased comfort and more pleasing results. "The possibilities opened up by Body-Jet technology are very exciting," states Dr. Key. "I look forward to helping women and men throughout the Greater Portland area achieve the body image they always wanted."

Dr. Key encourages patients interested in Body-Jet assisted liposuction in Portland to contact the Key Laser Institute for Aesthetic Medicine to learn more about this and other body contouring procedures.