Evaluation of blood loss during tumescent liposuction in Orientals

BACKGROUND. There ave high risks from general anesthesia and excessive blee ding associated with traditional liposuction using the dry ou wet method. T he blood loss Iras been estimated to be between 15% and 45%. The tumescent technique permits liposuction of more than 3,000 ml of fat totally by local anesthesia without sedation. The blood loss is reported to be less than 1% of aspirate. OBJECTIVE. TO examine the blood loss during liposuction using tumescent tec hnique in Chinese patients compared with that of Caucasians as published in the literature. METHODS. Hemoglobin values of patient's preoperative venous blood and infra natant of aspirate were measured in 45 consecutive eases gf liposuction usi ng the tumescent technique from May 1996 to June 1997. RESULTS. A total of 30 patients completed the study. The average blood loss was estimated to be 1.08% of aspirate. CONCLUSION. From this study, we found the blood loss in Chinese patients is comparable with that in Caucasians. Tumescent liposuction is a safe dermat ologic cosmetic surgical procedure without the need of blood transfusion an d general anesthesia. (C) 1998 by the American Society for Dermatologic Sur gery, Inc.