Preface

When surgeons began performing liposuction regularly in the mid-1980s, the procedure was a bit rough and inexact. Patients were told that they would look better in clothing, but not necessarily without clothing. Due to the increasing popularity of minimally invasive body contouring over the years, new approaches rapidly developed. The advent of radiofrequency-, ultrasound-, and laser-assisted techniques reduced contour irregularities and residual skin laxity. A power-assisted handpiece decreased operator fatigue. Waterjet-assisted liposuction improved fat grafting harvests. Non-excisional skin tightening in conjunction with liposuction was developed, and both helium plasma and argon plasma were used to coagulate soft tissue. Combination techniques were developed for the face, neck, torso, and limbs so that minimal scarring and optimal outcomes could be achieved.

Our sophisticated clientele is no longer satisfied with the simple reduction of adipose content; a dramatic aesthetic improvement has become an expectation. From the reader who is just beginning in the field to the expert seeking a few pearls, *Enhanced Liposuction - New Perspectives and Techniques* is a compendium of comprehensive knowledge. This book addresses patient selection, patient marking, equipment, techniques, and expected outcomes with a variety of energy sources. Combination therapies can generate results far better than those originally achieved with dermolipectomy. Best practices that have taken years for the authors to develop are generously shared so that the entire group of aesthetic practitioners might benefit.

It is important to understand the limitations and risks of any new technique. Because many of the energy-assisted contouring outcomes take time to become fully evident, sometimes the clinical endpoint is not as clear as it might be with simple liposuction. A good clinical practice would dictate a conservative surgical approach with a longer post-treatment follow-up than one might normally consider. Patients perceive value in a treatment that is done once, has no need for revisions or later corrections, with results that last the better part of a lifetime.

Many thanks to the kind and thorough publishing team of Lucija Tomičić-Dromgool, Sandra Bakić, and Sandra Maljavac at IntechOpen.

The major credit for the excellence of this volume goes to each and every author, who spent many hours developing techniques, treating patients, writing, proofreading, and revising their contributions during a worldwide pandemic in order to help produce an outstanding publication.

> **Diane Irvine Duncan M.D., FACS** Plastic Surgical Associates in Fort Collins, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Section 1 History
