Liposculpture of the trunk

Abstract

Before the advent of liposuction there was really little that could be done about shaping the upper part of the body. The trunk consists of the upper and lower abdomen, the flanks, the back, and the mammary region. All of these areas are very important when taking into consideration the silhouette of a person. With liposculpture, not only can large volumes of fat deposits be reduced in this area, but it can also give a new shape to the body. Cosmetic surgery of the abdomen started in the nineteenth century. Between 1890 and 1910 several authors described the technique of dermolipectomy. In 1967, Pitanguy [1] published his work on abdominal lipectomy. It was his experience that gave all of us the opportunity to understand the basic principles of abdominoplasty. Nevertheless, our patients hardly accept evident scars. It is for this reason that the concept of modeling the abdomen has radically changed since the introduction of liposuction techniques. © 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.