Introduction:
Recently, LAL, specifically Smartlipo™ has gained a great deal of attention based on expectations of a skin tightening caused by laser thermal effect on collagen and connective tissue. LAL is based on manual scanning of the adipose tissue treatment volume with a cannula delivering laser radiation through a very small fiber with a 600 microns diameter. Due to the manual delivery during LAL and the relatively small size of the laser radiation source questions are raised about treatment uniformity. Hot spots in the treatment area may lead to adermal injury while undertreated areas reduce uniformity of the treatment, potentially compromising the overall result including soft tissue contraction. The development of a Radiofrequency Assisted Liposuction system(Bodytite™,InvasixLtd.), which delivers high power radiofrequency to adipose and connective tissue while continuously monitoring all parameters including temperature allowed an opportunity to compare RFAL heating characteristics with LAL.
