D. Johnson et al., COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS ON SUBCUTANEOUS FAT - IMPLICATIONS FOR LIPOSUCTION, Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 97(2), 1996, pp. 387-396
The anatomy of the abdominal subcutaneous tissues is discussed in the
light of data obtained in 20 female patients examined on a modern comp
uted tomographic system. We have shown that the superficial fascia, wh
ich separates the superficial and deep layers of subcutaneous fat, for
ms a continuous circumferential fascial plane. This superficial fascia
, contrary to previous reports, does not appear to merge with the deep
fascial plane around the external oblique muscle. The fat in the deep
subcutaneous layer, bounded by the superficial fascia, is the target
for liposuction techniques. The CT data have shown that about 50 perce
nt of subcutaneous fat resides within this deep layer.