Enhanced results with lipo plus Thermage

As usual, the Hot Topics session at this week's meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons served up a number of issues. I had the opportunity to present the data from our studies proving that Thermage given immediately after liposuction enhances skin tightening. The reason that this is important to prove in a scientific way is that skin shrinks all by itself after lipo, so additional shrinkage can only be claimed if it is demonstrated to be greater than what occurs normally. Patients who benefit from this are those who have some looseness to the skin, such that lipo alone would not give a good result, but not so much that they need something like a tummy tuck. This latter part is important because some plastic surgeons are pitching laser lipo as an alternative to tummy tucks. It's a risky proposition because I am already seeing patients who should have had a tummy tuck but chose laser lipo instead, and the results are not pretty.
To be fair, there was some data presented showing enhanced skin shrinkage with smart lipo (though not as much as with lipo-Thermage) and another suggesting that VASER ultrasound helps too. But each of these has its own risks and benefits, so for now my money is on the one designed to tighten skin in the first place.