BLOOD-LOSS DURING LIPOSUCTION USING THE TUMESCENT TECHNIQUE

Blood loss during liposuction has been a concern when more than 1500 m L of material are removed during one session. Several authors have cla imed that blood loss is dramatically reduced when the targeted area is infiltrated with large amounts of dilute lidocaine with epinephrine ( ''tumescent'' or ''superwet'' technique). Using this technique, 25 con secutive cases in which the liposuction aspirate was expected to be 10 00 mL or more were investigated with pre- and postoperative measuremen ts of hemoglobin. In addition, hemoglobin was also measured in the flu id fraction of the aspirate. The mean +/- SD aspirated volume was 1658 +/- 518 mL and the mean +/- SD fall in postoperative hemoglobin was 0 .7 +/- 0.6 g/100 mL (5.4% +/- 4.9%). The mean amount of blood per lite r of aspirate was calculated to be 10.5 +/- 5.2 mL. These results clea rly demonstrate that the blood loss when using the tumescent or superw et technique is dramatically reduced compared with the dry or classica l ''wet'' technique.