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Liposuction is a surgical procedure where they basically vacuum the fat out of you.
It’s achievable at home but..worth it? Def not over fat dissolvers (Aqualyx, Dr. Lipo, Kybella etc.). The demand for liposuction is actually ten times higher than fat dissolving treatments since it works quicker.
I don’t believe many would have the balls to do something like this at home over an easier diy like fat dissolvers. Liposuction is considered surgical. I don’t know how many surgical treatments people have made diy guides for, but this one is definitely possible to do at home. The reason I’m looking into this is to push us one step forward in the diy fat grafting route (being able to do fat grafting at home would be monumental), and the first step in grafting is harvesting your autologous fat.
Disclaimer: this would make the average person squeamish, so getting a second person to do this to you would help. Although props to you if you really think you could perform this on yourself alone.
Liposuction overview:
In this treatment,
The best lipo methods for fat grafting include:
SAL (manual suction assisted liposuction)
The cannula is connected to a vacuum like machine which generates negative pressure. Works faster and more intensely than manual syringe liposuction.
Manual syringe liposuction
This is when the cannula is attached to a chunky syringe, and the plunger is manually pulled back to suction the fat up.
Both of these methods are achievable, I will get into both later but I first need to talk about anesthetics.
Anesthetic:
Tumescent solution is an important thing one must tackle in order to do this. Sadly you can’t just buy this online, so you need to make the cocktail yourself.
It is described as such online:
“Standard tumescent solution is comprised of 500 mg lidocaine, 1 mg of epinephrine, and 12.5 mEq sodium bicarbonate added to a 1 liter solution of 0.9% normal saline. The epinephrine prolongs the duration of anesthesia, as well as reducing the incidence of bleeding.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/tumescent-anesthesi
Tumescent lidocaine solution contains at most 1 g lidocaine and 1 mg epinephrine in 100 mL plus 10 mEq sodium bicarbonate in 10 mL added to 1000 mL of 0.9% physiologic saline for a final lidocaine concentration of 1 g per bag containing 1110 mL or 0.9 g/L (0.09%).
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4830750/#
To summarize it, you will need 1 liter of 0.9% sterile saline as the base liquid. Add in 500mg of lidocaine, 1 mg of epinephrine, and 10 mL of 8.4% sodium bicarbonate. Some people also use 1 liter of lactated ringers instead of saline.
This man actually goes into a little detail on how he does his. He uses an IV bag of saline and just injects the other ingredients into it from there. You can purchase iv bags online for dirt cheap prices.
Techniques:
The super wet technique - this method is when they inject the tumescent with a 1:1 ratio (of fluid to fat removed). Let’s say you want 1000 mL of fat removed, then that means you’d be injecting 1000 mL of fluid! This method is recommended when liposuctioning larger areas of fat. It’s also used with general anesthesia since a 1:1 ratio wouldn’t be enough to numb the pain.
The tumescent technique - this is the one we are using since it can be done under local anesthesia. It uses more fluid than the super wet technique (up to 3x the fluid to fat amount). This method is superior to the super wet technique in smaller areas of the body. Because let’s say you’re a fatass and want a whopping 4000 mL of fat removed from your stomach. If you use the tumescent technique you’d be using around TRIPLE that amount of mL (12000) which will cause mega fluid overload. The super wet technique was designed for fatasses like that, since if you want huge amounts of fat removed like that you are supposed be put under general anesthesia. When you have a shit ton of fat you’d like to remove, you wouldn’t want to have to inject 3-4 times the amount of fluid into there, it’s unsafe.
The max amount of tumescent fluid you inject varies and depends on a few different factors.
Lidocaine dosage is the main limiting factor, but it’s not a huge worry since tumescent solution is HEAVILY diluted. Your solution contains only .05-.1% lidocaine, so the body can handle ~45 mg/kg to 50mg/kg. Use that in order to calculate the amount you can safely inject.
In this thread I will be reccommending 45mg/kg, since doing the maximum amount is riskier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0733863505701248
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539881/
Let’s say u weigh 70kg and want to inject into your leg, and a common range of volume that leg can hold is 200mL. You are using a tumescent fluid that contains 0.05% of lidocaine=0.5mg per ml. You’d multiply 0.5mg/ml by the 200ml of fluid your leg can hold. Which reveals that it contains 100mg.
You’d then have to compare this 100mg of lidocaine to the maximum safe systemic dose of lidocaine for your body weight (70kg * 45mg) which is 3,150mg in this case.
So 100mg compared to 3,150mg is incredibly safe. Therefore injecting 200ml into that leg would be within a safe pharmacologic range.
This part is a bit tricky in terms of math imo, so if anyone has any troubles calculating feel free to pm me
Now that you know how MUCH to inject, how DO you even inject it?
Since this entire process requires a cannula, you use the fanning technique (inserting the cannula through one point and injecting the filer in a fan like pattern, moving it back and forth).
It’s supposed to be injected through multiple adits for even distribution of the fluid. Creating around 3-5 punctures (depending on area size), using the fanning technique, and injecting through there is ideal. Some people even reuse these injection points and reinsert through them during the actual harvesting process.
You will want to have a separate tumescent infiltration cannula for this.
Monty cannulas are specialized for the anesthesia infiltration process, so it’d be great if you could get your hands on one of those. But a regular 20 gauge, multi holed cannula also works fine. Attached to a 60cc luer lock syringe. Tumescent infiltration pumps exist, but are thousands of dollars. So you’ll have to be injecting all the fluid yourself. Refilling and reassembling it multiple times, since big amounts of the anesthetic are required.
So..
We will be doing the traditional tumescent technique with a 1:3 fluid to fat amount ratio. Calculate the fluid budget(mg) of tumescent solution you can inject with this statement: 45 mg per kg-50mg per kg.
Ex: a 70kg person could inject 3150-3500mg in total/max.
Now, think of the amount of mL of fat you’d wish to remove from the area. How much would you like to harvest for the grafting? Think big. It’s better to have extra fat left over than to not have enough.
Once you decide how much you want to extract, multiply that number by 3. That’s gonna be the amount of tumescent fluid you’ll inject in that particular area. But after multiplying it by 3, make sure to check and compare it to your fluid budget. To ensure it’s a safe amount for you to inject.
After that’s all decided, load up your tumescent infiltration syringe with the solution. Put on your gloves.
Wipe the area with chlorhexidine. Mark 3-5 injection sites on your designated area.
Inject slowly (at a 45° angle almost parallel to the ground to hit the subq layer), using the fanning technique. Since a lot of the fluid is required, it’s okay to refill/reuse your syringe a few times in order to meet the amount you need.
Your tissue will become firm and swollen like a water balloon.
Ex:
After this process is complete, surgeons wait 15-30 minutes for the solution to actually kick in. This is incredibly important not only because of the minimized pain factor, but because of the vasoconstriction caused by the epinephrine that will reduce bleeding. Wait around 30 minutes to be the most safe.
Disclaimer: In general, it can take around 1-2 days for the swelling/numbness to wear off.
Items list summary:
Tumescent infiltration syringe (60cc luer lock)
Tumescent infiltration cannula (thin, multi holed)
Tumescent solution
Marker for injection site marking
Disposable gloves
Chlorhexidine wipes
Pointers I don’t know where to place:
-Around 40% of your lipoaspirate harvest is going to be blood and other unnecessary fluids. Around 50-70% of your injected fat will survive long term on the face as well. So I think loading up only 1 (60cc toomey) syringe or 2 (10cc luer lock) syringes full of fat is fair.
Avg. ml of fat that gets injected into the face:
Tear troughs: 2-3mL
Cheeks: 10-15mL
Temples: 5mL
Lips: 1-2mL
Hopefully that helps you decide how much fat is a viable amount for you to harvest.
-Microfat is harvested by using a cannula that has a diameter that is typically less than or equal to 3mm. These small particles are primarily used for restoring facial volume. Which is exactly what we want.
-Macrofat on the other hand is harvested with thicker cannulas, and is used on areas in need of much fuller volume (ex: boobs, butt)
A paradox I have with this is that online it tells you surgeons typically use cannulas with diameters of 2mm or less for microfat grafting. But I don’t think that’s necessary. Thicker diameter cannulas are superior because it will minimize the chances of damaging the fat cells. Using a cannula with a diameter of 3+ and then downsizing the particles later on is the better choice.
Sterilization:
You are literally harvesting fat out of your body that you’re gonna wanna reinject into some other place later. This procedure needs to be completely sterile.
In order to keep everything safe, all of your equipment should be sterile, you should wipe your harvesting area up with chlorhexidine, wear sterile gloves, and you are never supposed to let the fat be exposed to air. The harvesting process must be closed. The system must not be opened.
Manual syringe lipo method:
In order to do a manual syringe liposuction, you will need one or more of those thick aspiration syringes to collect fat in.
Some of the most commonly used syringes in manual syringe liposunction are either a 10cc luer-lock syringe, or a 60cc toomey syringe. Some people like to use 10cc for smaller fat harvesting (duh).
But there’s a trade off here. 10cc syringes can benefit the quality/survival of the fat cells, but the harvesting process will move slower. Meanwhile 60cc syringes will move way quicker, but due to the stronger negative pressure, the quality of the cells are more jeopardized. (Keep this in mind when deciding the size of syringe to buy).
However, with the right technique, a 60cc syringe will be no problem. Taking your time, slowly pulling the plunger back 1-2ml at a time, using intermittent intervals, are all important parts of preserving the fat. The key objective is to cause as minimal damage to the cell viability as possible. But anyways…
As for the aspiration/harvesting cannulas that attach to the syringes, you’d want a 5-10cm long cannula. (The skinnier you are, the shorter you should buy). Harvesting cannulas are also typically low gauge (12-18 gauge), since due to the tumescent fluid you inject, you won’t need to worry about lots of pain or blood, and it will suck more fat out quicker(as well as preserve fat cell viability much better than a higher gauge one). Its diameter should be 3mm≥. They also usually have 3+ holes (called a Mercedes tip)
https://www.precisemedical.com.au/products/single-use-mercedes-fat-harvesting-luer-lock-cannula?currency=AUD&country=AU&variant=45259505336497&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&stkn=4f4cbe090443&gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=22769085277&gbraid=0AAAAADM914Ynl76Jg26_V1zypTGRvYh6X
I found this one on the internet for surprisingly cheap and its design is very standard.
I personally would pick my thigh as my harvest site since I feel like doing it there would make me less squeamish, and because it harbors more fat than on my abdomen.
Anyways
After you let your tumescent fluid sink in, you may create new injection sites or reuse the ones you used to inject the fluid.
Assemble your harvesting syringe/cannula.
Insert it the cannula into the site (45°), and slowly pull the plunger back by 2ml. Once you see it fill up with fluid, pull the plunger back by another 2ml, and so on and so forth.
Slowly 1-2ml back at a time. If you simply pull the plunger all the way back, it will create way too much suction that can damage fat cells. You don’t want to over-vacuum the fat. So by doing this technique you are being extra safe.
During this process, while your plunger is pulled back in “vacuum mode”, you will use a back and forth motion with the cannula (basically the fanning technique) to break up/extract the fat. This is the part that would make me squeamish, since you’re able to see the cannula moving back and forth under the skin.
Your syringe/s will be filled with a reddish orange substance. It will contain a mix of fat, blood, oil, and tumescent fluid.
This man does a great job explaining things. 0:31
If you need some sort of visualization of the process, this video is perfect.
Items list summary:
Harvesting syringe (10-60cc luer lock)
Harvesting cannula (multi holed, low gauge)
MACHINE assisted:
I did some research about machine assisted liposuction for the hell of it, and I found out they’ve created all in one devices. Let me introduce you to the Lipografter by MTF biologics.
Inside this kit, it contains a 30mL KVAC syringe, an AT valve, 4 collection bags for fat sedimentation/processing, and tubing that allows you to connect everything. I gasped because they genuinely sell some of these unopened kits on eBay and other second hand sites. You just need to keep an eye on the expiration date listed.
I also found this other medical site that sells a legit lipografting kit. Shit ton of money tho.
https://koumecannulas.com/product/lipografter-system/
But even if you can’t manage to buy one of these kits, there’s definitely ways you can buy parts individually and create your own contraption. Though you’d still need to use your cannula manually which kinda takes the point away
Sometimes surgeons will use what’s called a 3 way stopcock. It’s a confusing little thing, but it’s a closed system in which you can connect three different things to put it simply.
It works by being able to control the flow through each port, and one of the nobs restricts flow for one path. By turning the handle, you can control wherever the fluid goes.
Sometimes it’s manufactured in different ways and it’ll say “stop” or “off” on one of the nobs to make it even more obvious which port is being blocked.
In order to create a three way lipografating system, you would be connecting luer lock syringe tubing to one of the ports, and connect that tubing to your harvesting cannula.
On the second port, you will be attaching a collection bag for the fat.
And then on the last port you would attach a harvesting syringe.
But there are important steps you’d need to follow along with this. Which I will be getting to in part 2/2
Aftercare:
After the fat is harvested, you will apply gauze pads to the incisions. Because of all the tumescent fluid you injected, some of it will drain out of your incisions. So don’t be alarmed. Your gauze pads may need to be frequently changed for the first 24-48 hours. Before applying them, you can wipe away any excess discharge.
After your incisions are covered, you will need to use a compression garment to cover the area up. This is to help with contouring, swelling, and pushing out excess fluid. Look up “post surgery compression garment” online to look for one.
Items:
-loose, sterile, gauze pads
-elastic compression garment
I apologize with how messy my formatting may seem, there’s just so much that goes into this process. But this guide has only covered the first step which is the liposuction/harvesting process. I’ve only explained how to extract the fat, and not what to do with it after. So, what would you guys think about a 2/2 part series where I’ll cover the sedimentation/decantation and injection process in the next part?
In b4 @Mandy? writes five paragraphs on how everything I said was wrong
@Glamour @ecoli @LaWi @Histy @foidslayer
It’s achievable at home but..worth it? Def not over fat dissolvers (Aqualyx, Dr. Lipo, Kybella etc.). The demand for liposuction is actually ten times higher than fat dissolving treatments since it works quicker.
I don’t believe many would have the balls to do something like this at home over an easier diy like fat dissolvers. Liposuction is considered surgical. I don’t know how many surgical treatments people have made diy guides for, but this one is definitely possible to do at home. The reason I’m looking into this is to push us one step forward in the diy fat grafting route (being able to do fat grafting at home would be monumental), and the first step in grafting is harvesting your autologous fat.
Disclaimer: this would make the average person squeamish, so getting a second person to do this to you would help. Although props to you if you really think you could perform this on yourself alone.
Liposuction overview:
In this treatment,
- a patient is put under some sort of anesthesia (depending on the part of your body you harvest from),
- a tumescent solution is injected into the subq layer (mixture of saline, lidocaine, epinephrine, & sometimes bicarb) so bleeding is minimized, pain is reduced, and makes your fat easier to remove. You can probably guess which ingredients do what. They wait 15-30 mins to let the solution kick in.
- Small incisions are created
- A cannula is inserted and moved back and forth under the skin to break up your fat, and the fat is vacuumed up with suction. Creating this suction can be done with a lipo machine, or manually. But using a machine is more popular since it’s more effective.
- The incisions can be left open or sutured shut depending on how much tumescent fluid you used. This is done to counter the risk of seroma. Smaller areas=less fluid=incisions often sutured shut. Larger areas=more fluid injected=incisions often left open to drain it.
- After the liposuction, you wear a compression garment to reduce swelling and help contour. This compression garment will also help drain fluid out of any open incisions.
The best lipo methods for fat grafting include:
SAL (manual suction assisted liposuction)
The cannula is connected to a vacuum like machine which generates negative pressure. Works faster and more intensely than manual syringe liposuction.
Manual syringe liposuction
This is when the cannula is attached to a chunky syringe, and the plunger is manually pulled back to suction the fat up.
Both of these methods are achievable, I will get into both later but I first need to talk about anesthetics.
Anesthetic:
Tumescent solution is an important thing one must tackle in order to do this. Sadly you can’t just buy this online, so you need to make the cocktail yourself.
It is described as such online:
“Standard tumescent solution is comprised of 500 mg lidocaine, 1 mg of epinephrine, and 12.5 mEq sodium bicarbonate added to a 1 liter solution of 0.9% normal saline. The epinephrine prolongs the duration of anesthesia, as well as reducing the incidence of bleeding.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/tumescent-anesthesi
Tumescent lidocaine solution contains at most 1 g lidocaine and 1 mg epinephrine in 100 mL plus 10 mEq sodium bicarbonate in 10 mL added to 1000 mL of 0.9% physiologic saline for a final lidocaine concentration of 1 g per bag containing 1110 mL or 0.9 g/L (0.09%).
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4830750/#
To summarize it, you will need 1 liter of 0.9% sterile saline as the base liquid. Add in 500mg of lidocaine, 1 mg of epinephrine, and 10 mL of 8.4% sodium bicarbonate. Some people also use 1 liter of lactated ringers instead of saline.
This man actually goes into a little detail on how he does his. He uses an IV bag of saline and just injects the other ingredients into it from there. You can purchase iv bags online for dirt cheap prices.
Techniques:
The super wet technique - this method is when they inject the tumescent with a 1:1 ratio (of fluid to fat removed). Let’s say you want 1000 mL of fat removed, then that means you’d be injecting 1000 mL of fluid! This method is recommended when liposuctioning larger areas of fat. It’s also used with general anesthesia since a 1:1 ratio wouldn’t be enough to numb the pain.
The tumescent technique - this is the one we are using since it can be done under local anesthesia. It uses more fluid than the super wet technique (up to 3x the fluid to fat amount). This method is superior to the super wet technique in smaller areas of the body. Because let’s say you’re a fatass and want a whopping 4000 mL of fat removed from your stomach. If you use the tumescent technique you’d be using around TRIPLE that amount of mL (12000) which will cause mega fluid overload. The super wet technique was designed for fatasses like that, since if you want huge amounts of fat removed like that you are supposed be put under general anesthesia. When you have a shit ton of fat you’d like to remove, you wouldn’t want to have to inject 3-4 times the amount of fluid into there, it’s unsafe.
The max amount of tumescent fluid you inject varies and depends on a few different factors.
Lidocaine dosage is the main limiting factor, but it’s not a huge worry since tumescent solution is HEAVILY diluted. Your solution contains only .05-.1% lidocaine, so the body can handle ~45 mg/kg to 50mg/kg. Use that in order to calculate the amount you can safely inject.
In this thread I will be reccommending 45mg/kg, since doing the maximum amount is riskier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0733863505701248
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539881/
Let’s say u weigh 70kg and want to inject into your leg, and a common range of volume that leg can hold is 200mL. You are using a tumescent fluid that contains 0.05% of lidocaine=0.5mg per ml. You’d multiply 0.5mg/ml by the 200ml of fluid your leg can hold. Which reveals that it contains 100mg.
You’d then have to compare this 100mg of lidocaine to the maximum safe systemic dose of lidocaine for your body weight (70kg * 45mg) which is 3,150mg in this case.
So 100mg compared to 3,150mg is incredibly safe. Therefore injecting 200ml into that leg would be within a safe pharmacologic range.
This part is a bit tricky in terms of math imo, so if anyone has any troubles calculating feel free to pm me
Now that you know how MUCH to inject, how DO you even inject it?
Since this entire process requires a cannula, you use the fanning technique (inserting the cannula through one point and injecting the filer in a fan like pattern, moving it back and forth).
It’s supposed to be injected through multiple adits for even distribution of the fluid. Creating around 3-5 punctures (depending on area size), using the fanning technique, and injecting through there is ideal. Some people even reuse these injection points and reinsert through them during the actual harvesting process.
You will want to have a separate tumescent infiltration cannula for this.
Monty cannulas are specialized for the anesthesia infiltration process, so it’d be great if you could get your hands on one of those. But a regular 20 gauge, multi holed cannula also works fine. Attached to a 60cc luer lock syringe. Tumescent infiltration pumps exist, but are thousands of dollars. So you’ll have to be injecting all the fluid yourself. Refilling and reassembling it multiple times, since big amounts of the anesthetic are required.
So..
We will be doing the traditional tumescent technique with a 1:3 fluid to fat amount ratio. Calculate the fluid budget(mg) of tumescent solution you can inject with this statement: 45 mg per kg-50mg per kg.
Ex: a 70kg person could inject 3150-3500mg in total/max.
Now, think of the amount of mL of fat you’d wish to remove from the area. How much would you like to harvest for the grafting? Think big. It’s better to have extra fat left over than to not have enough.
Once you decide how much you want to extract, multiply that number by 3. That’s gonna be the amount of tumescent fluid you’ll inject in that particular area. But after multiplying it by 3, make sure to check and compare it to your fluid budget. To ensure it’s a safe amount for you to inject.
After that’s all decided, load up your tumescent infiltration syringe with the solution. Put on your gloves.
Wipe the area with chlorhexidine. Mark 3-5 injection sites on your designated area.
Inject slowly (at a 45° angle almost parallel to the ground to hit the subq layer), using the fanning technique. Since a lot of the fluid is required, it’s okay to refill/reuse your syringe a few times in order to meet the amount you need.
Your tissue will become firm and swollen like a water balloon.
Ex:
After this process is complete, surgeons wait 15-30 minutes for the solution to actually kick in. This is incredibly important not only because of the minimized pain factor, but because of the vasoconstriction caused by the epinephrine that will reduce bleeding. Wait around 30 minutes to be the most safe.
Disclaimer: In general, it can take around 1-2 days for the swelling/numbness to wear off.
Items list summary:
Tumescent infiltration syringe (60cc luer lock)
Tumescent infiltration cannula (thin, multi holed)
Tumescent solution
Marker for injection site marking
Disposable gloves
Chlorhexidine wipes
Pointers I don’t know where to place:
-Around 40% of your lipoaspirate harvest is going to be blood and other unnecessary fluids. Around 50-70% of your injected fat will survive long term on the face as well. So I think loading up only 1 (60cc toomey) syringe or 2 (10cc luer lock) syringes full of fat is fair.
Avg. ml of fat that gets injected into the face:
Tear troughs: 2-3mL
Cheeks: 10-15mL
Temples: 5mL
Lips: 1-2mL
Hopefully that helps you decide how much fat is a viable amount for you to harvest.
-Microfat is harvested by using a cannula that has a diameter that is typically less than or equal to 3mm. These small particles are primarily used for restoring facial volume. Which is exactly what we want.
-Macrofat on the other hand is harvested with thicker cannulas, and is used on areas in need of much fuller volume (ex: boobs, butt)
A paradox I have with this is that online it tells you surgeons typically use cannulas with diameters of 2mm or less for microfat grafting. But I don’t think that’s necessary. Thicker diameter cannulas are superior because it will minimize the chances of damaging the fat cells. Using a cannula with a diameter of 3+ and then downsizing the particles later on is the better choice.
Sterilization:
You are literally harvesting fat out of your body that you’re gonna wanna reinject into some other place later. This procedure needs to be completely sterile.
In order to keep everything safe, all of your equipment should be sterile, you should wipe your harvesting area up with chlorhexidine, wear sterile gloves, and you are never supposed to let the fat be exposed to air. The harvesting process must be closed. The system must not be opened.
Manual syringe lipo method:
In order to do a manual syringe liposuction, you will need one or more of those thick aspiration syringes to collect fat in.
Some of the most commonly used syringes in manual syringe liposunction are either a 10cc luer-lock syringe, or a 60cc toomey syringe. Some people like to use 10cc for smaller fat harvesting (duh).
But there’s a trade off here. 10cc syringes can benefit the quality/survival of the fat cells, but the harvesting process will move slower. Meanwhile 60cc syringes will move way quicker, but due to the stronger negative pressure, the quality of the cells are more jeopardized. (Keep this in mind when deciding the size of syringe to buy).
However, with the right technique, a 60cc syringe will be no problem. Taking your time, slowly pulling the plunger back 1-2ml at a time, using intermittent intervals, are all important parts of preserving the fat. The key objective is to cause as minimal damage to the cell viability as possible. But anyways…
As for the aspiration/harvesting cannulas that attach to the syringes, you’d want a 5-10cm long cannula. (The skinnier you are, the shorter you should buy). Harvesting cannulas are also typically low gauge (12-18 gauge), since due to the tumescent fluid you inject, you won’t need to worry about lots of pain or blood, and it will suck more fat out quicker(as well as preserve fat cell viability much better than a higher gauge one). Its diameter should be 3mm≥. They also usually have 3+ holes (called a Mercedes tip)
https://www.precisemedical.com.au/products/single-use-mercedes-fat-harvesting-luer-lock-cannula?currency=AUD&country=AU&variant=45259505336497&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&stkn=4f4cbe090443&gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=22769085277&gbraid=0AAAAADM914Ynl76Jg26_V1zypTGRvYh6X
I found this one on the internet for surprisingly cheap and its design is very standard.
I personally would pick my thigh as my harvest site since I feel like doing it there would make me less squeamish, and because it harbors more fat than on my abdomen.
Anyways
After you let your tumescent fluid sink in, you may create new injection sites or reuse the ones you used to inject the fluid.
Assemble your harvesting syringe/cannula.
Insert it the cannula into the site (45°), and slowly pull the plunger back by 2ml. Once you see it fill up with fluid, pull the plunger back by another 2ml, and so on and so forth.
Slowly 1-2ml back at a time. If you simply pull the plunger all the way back, it will create way too much suction that can damage fat cells. You don’t want to over-vacuum the fat. So by doing this technique you are being extra safe.
During this process, while your plunger is pulled back in “vacuum mode”, you will use a back and forth motion with the cannula (basically the fanning technique) to break up/extract the fat. This is the part that would make me squeamish, since you’re able to see the cannula moving back and forth under the skin.
Your syringe/s will be filled with a reddish orange substance. It will contain a mix of fat, blood, oil, and tumescent fluid.
This man does a great job explaining things. 0:31
If you need some sort of visualization of the process, this video is perfect.
Items list summary:
Harvesting syringe (10-60cc luer lock)
Harvesting cannula (multi holed, low gauge)
MACHINE assisted:
I did some research about machine assisted liposuction for the hell of it, and I found out they’ve created all in one devices. Let me introduce you to the Lipografter by MTF biologics.
Inside this kit, it contains a 30mL KVAC syringe, an AT valve, 4 collection bags for fat sedimentation/processing, and tubing that allows you to connect everything. I gasped because they genuinely sell some of these unopened kits on eBay and other second hand sites. You just need to keep an eye on the expiration date listed.
I also found this other medical site that sells a legit lipografting kit. Shit ton of money tho.
https://koumecannulas.com/product/lipografter-system/
But even if you can’t manage to buy one of these kits, there’s definitely ways you can buy parts individually and create your own contraption. Though you’d still need to use your cannula manually which kinda takes the point away
Sometimes surgeons will use what’s called a 3 way stopcock. It’s a confusing little thing, but it’s a closed system in which you can connect three different things to put it simply.
It works by being able to control the flow through each port, and one of the nobs restricts flow for one path. By turning the handle, you can control wherever the fluid goes.
Sometimes it’s manufactured in different ways and it’ll say “stop” or “off” on one of the nobs to make it even more obvious which port is being blocked.
In order to create a three way lipografating system, you would be connecting luer lock syringe tubing to one of the ports, and connect that tubing to your harvesting cannula.
On the second port, you will be attaching a collection bag for the fat.
And then on the last port you would attach a harvesting syringe.
But there are important steps you’d need to follow along with this. Which I will be getting to in part 2/2
Aftercare:
After the fat is harvested, you will apply gauze pads to the incisions. Because of all the tumescent fluid you injected, some of it will drain out of your incisions. So don’t be alarmed. Your gauze pads may need to be frequently changed for the first 24-48 hours. Before applying them, you can wipe away any excess discharge.
After your incisions are covered, you will need to use a compression garment to cover the area up. This is to help with contouring, swelling, and pushing out excess fluid. Look up “post surgery compression garment” online to look for one.
Items:
-loose, sterile, gauze pads
-elastic compression garment
I apologize with how messy my formatting may seem, there’s just so much that goes into this process. But this guide has only covered the first step which is the liposuction/harvesting process. I’ve only explained how to extract the fat, and not what to do with it after. So, what would you guys think about a 2/2 part series where I’ll cover the sedimentation/decantation and injection process in the next part?
In b4 @Mandy? writes five paragraphs on how everything I said was wrong
@Glamour @ecoli @LaWi @Histy @foidslayer
