Liposuction is one of my favorite procedures to perform. Almost everyone has a few stubborn pockets of fat somewhere on the body. Eliminating and smoothing out these bulges is one of the fastest and easiest ways to rejuvenate your arms, neck or body. However, if you’ve passed enough birthdays, your skin may have lost its ability to “bounce back” or reform around your new contour. So while liposuction can get rid of the fat, it may now leave behind loose skin. The only way to deal with lax, sagging skin used to be a surgical lift such as a facelift, thigh lift or tummy tuck. All of these procedures, however, require incisions and on a place like the arms, for example, the incision lines are visible.
It was always frustrating for both me and my patients that a truly effective scarless “lift” did not exist. That is until now. The Renuvion/J-Plasma is a new, cutting edge non-surgical skin tightening device that can truly kick your liposuction results up to the next level. It’s proving to be a win-win.
What is Renuvion/J-Plasma?
At our core, plastic surgeons are innovation nerds. We love finding new solutions for our patients’ problems. Non-surgical skin tightening devices have been around for awhile. But what makes the J-Plasma so revolutionary is that it utilizes cold plasma energy.
Cold plasma energy was actually developed to remove cancer lesions. It works by exposing helium gas to radiofrequency (RF) energy. Helium has the stability to convert to plasma at a lower temperature. In the aesthetic arena, this means that I can improve your skin tone without causing any collateral damage to the surrounding tissues from too much heat. This can sometimes be an issue with other devices.
Benefits of J-Plasma Procedure
Renuvion’s cold plasma laser beam is also incredibly precise. Furthermore, only a very small portion of the helium gas is converted to plasma. The rest of the helium simply flows over the treatment area, helping to keep it cool. This dichotomy of both heating and cooling the skin at once is one of the things that makes J-Plasma so unique. Other benefits of the Renuvion are that it is:
- Fast
- Easier to use than some other non-surgical skin tightening modalities
- Effective when paired with liposuction for a scarless lift
Renuvion/J-Plasma for Skin Tightening
Non-surgical skin tightening has long been one of the holy grails of plastic surgery — that is: impossible to attain. Lifting the skin to any kind of significant degree has typically required fairly extensive incisions and scars. However, with the J-Plasma, I can tighten the skin almost anywhere on your face, neck and body with just a few incisions and minor downtime. This is a game changer especially in areas such as the arms where any kind of surgical intervention leaves a visible scar. The J-Plasma can also be a great option for skin tightening after weight loss.
Liposuction & J-Plasma Procedure
Combining liposuction with the J-Plasma comes the closest to delivering a scarless lift of anything I’ve seen. During your procedure, I will make a couple of very small incisions in the treatment area through which I will first insert numbing medicine followed by the cannula to remove the excess fat. Once your contour is where I would like, I then insert the Renuvion device through the same small incisions. The cold plasma beam works beneath your skin’s surface, tightening the septae, which are the fibrous bands that run between the skin and the muscle. This, in turn, shrinks and smooths out your skin’s surface. The results are not immediate. Rather, over time, your body will increase its production of collagen and elastin as a way to heal from the “injury” of the laser. As the two main ingredients of youthful looking skin, more collagen and elastin will continue to shrink and lift the tissues in the treatment area so that they look smoother, tighter and plumper.
Downtime with J-Plasma Procedure
When combined with liposuction, the Renuvion/J-Plasma procedure is typically performed in our accredited surgical center under local anesthesia. Your downtime following this 1-2 combination is usually about a week. You can expect some swelling and maybe some bruising. You will also be in some type of compression garment which not only helps speed up healing, but will also help mitigate any post operative discomfort.
While you will notice an improvement in the treatment area immediately, your results will continue to get better over the next 3 months. And, assuming that your weight stays stable, these results are permanent. Yes, you will still age. But the skin that was rejuvenated with the J-Plasma will always be smoother and tighter than the skin that wasn’t treated. It’s really that simple.
To find out more about Renuvion/J-Plasma and liposuction with Dr. Sean Doherty at his Boston or Brookline office, contact us today or call (617) 450-0070 to schedule a consultation.