April 18, 2011
Scalpel-less Procedures On The Horizon?
Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Aaron Rollins, has gone scalpel-less and needle-less in his practice with a potential new awake male breast reduction procedure.
As women across the nation are getting ready for swimsuit season – there is one faction of people who are often overlooked when it comes to getting swimsuit ready: men who have gynecomastia. Males who have gynecomastia, also known as man boobs or moobs, often suffer great psychological stress due to an overabundance of breast tissue – especially adolescents who need to regularly change in public locker rooms. Previously, male breast reduction was a surgical procedure during which the physician removed excess tissue through an incision. Now, a new technique may be available to treat gynecomastia, without surgery or scalpels – with the patient completely awake.
Actual Male Breast Reduction Results of Dr. Aaron Rollins
According to a recent report by The Mayo Clinic, gynecomastia can strike at any age and generally occurs due to a hormonal imbalance, where testosterone levels are lowered in relation to estrogen levels. Common causes of this hormonal imbalance include: exposure to steroids or estrogen, natural changes in hormones, side effects to street drugs and certain cancer treatments. Approximately 25% of gynecomastia cases do not have an exact cause.
The new technique to treat gynecomastia is performed by cosmetic surgeon Dr. Aaron Rollins at SonoBello in Beverly Hills, and it is scalpel-less and needle-less. He uses a compressed air injector to inject numbing fluid after which he performs liposculpture through minute biopsy punch holes. “I took the most painful, obnoxious part of awake surgery, which are the first few needle sticks, and I eliminated it,” Dr. Rollins explains the genesis of this technique, “Those are the worst because patients are not numb yet and they’re wide awake. By using the air compression injector, there is no needle and when I show the patients, I jab my own hand with it and they see the injector doesn’t hurt and everything goes smoothly.”
The air compression injector is a military grade vaccine injector and works by shooting lidocaine into the skin. “It’s basically a lidocaine air gun. You press a lever, which sucks the numbing fluid up and puts it under pressure,” describes Dr. Rollins, “After you press the button, it shoots the lidocaine out really hard, similar to air compressions. Just for the second, there is a pop that I warn my patients about, it sounds like a BB gun. Then the numbing fluid is under the skin and that’s it.”
After the patient is numbed via the air compression injection, Dr. Rollins performs awake liposculpture to reduce the male breast, with Smartlipo and power assisted liposuction. “I haven’t used a scalpel in years. No one wants to see a scalpel; I use a 2 millimeter biopsy punch through which we perform the liposculpture, eliminating scars from the traditional incision needed.” The biopsy punch is also more beneficial to the patient because liposuction can get aggressive and an incision is much easier to tear than a circle, according to Dr. Rollin. The scar that eventually forms resembles a freckle sized mark.
Relying entirely on advanced lipo technology, Dr. Rollins believes this approach to male breast reduction delivers results that have less pain, less bruising (due to minor biopsy punch) and faster recovery. Generally, the procedure is performed in under 2 hours and the downtime is approximately 2 days before patients can return to normal activity.
– http://www.americanhealthandbeauty.com/articles/?article=4375
