One of the newest devices for body contouring isn't a laser or ultrasound or radio frequency device. Rather it's Tickle Lipo and many patients and physicians are very impressed by this device that uses movement rather than heat to make fat easier to remove.
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"I'm just so excited about TickleLipo," says Dr. Tess Mauricio who performs Tickle Lipo in San Diego. "I'm really pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to perform and how happy the patients are. Areas that were very difficult to treat with liposculpture such as the arms and the thighs are made so much better with the Tickle Lipo." Dr. Mauricio describes that the device removes fat cells in a three dimensional way. With traditional liposuction, the cannula would move in a linear manner, making it difficult to remove a three dimensional amount of volume. That is much easier with the TickleLipo. "It's a lot smoother and it's a lot easier to shape so I'm a lot more confident when I talk to my patients. I can assure them that we're going to get really smooth results. It's the key to creating a great lipo result," says Dr. Mauricio.
According to the doctor, TickleLipo offers several benefits over laser lipolysis devices. She says that Tickle Lipo is much faster and that with laser lipo, you're still limited to linear motion. Further, laser lipo has the potential to cause burns and you can't be as superficial as with the Tickle Lipo device. "With Tickle Lipo there is absolutely no heating so you can really sculpt away. You don't have to worry about temperature and heating and going too superficial so it's a lot safer," says Dr. Mauricio.
In particular, Dr. Mauricio says she's found Tickle Lipo useful in larger patients who have more fat to remove. She says that it's routine to remove about 4 liters of fat from the abdomen and that Tickle Lipo is superior for this kind of volume. Also, areas where there are an abundance of fibrous bands such as the love handles or in patients who've previously had liposuction are well treated by Tickle Lipo. The only areas she doesn't use the device are the neck and chin because she says the volume reduction is too fast for the small amount of fat to be removed there. "I find the laser lipo just brings it down slow enough that I feel more comfortable using it in the neck and chin."
Dr. Mauricio has found that she actually gets a nice amount of skin tightening from Tickle Lipo, a benefit often attributed to other liposuction devices because they heat the skin and stimulate collagen growth. "I'm finding that even when removing about 4 liters of fat from the abdomen - about 8 pounds of fat - without doing a tummy tuck procedure, and without taking away any skin, we're seeing significant tightening." She believes that this effect is because the procedure is more gentle and the connective tissues are better preserved.
She says that in her practice, she actually charges less for Tickle Lipo than other lipo devices because it's so much faster. There is more information available on www.ticklelipo.com. Patients are typically able to return to work in 1-2 days and heal much quicker than with other devices.
