Table 1. Characteristics, Advantages, and Disadvantages of Various Liposuction Techniques (3,5,6,7,8,9).

Methods	Advantages	Disadvantages
Water-assisted liposuction
Loosens fat cells by injection of pressurised fluid	Minimizes traumatic damage of surrounding soft tissue	Does not provide proper skin contraction after liposuction
Power-assisted liposuction
Use of rapidly vibrating cannula (where operator moves cannula around in back and forth motion in order to break down fat cells in traditional SAL technique)	Reduces patient injury	Additional costs and inconvenience to operator due to noise and vibration
Laser-assisted liposuction
Use of laser energy to melt fat	Reduction of intraoperative blood loss and postoperative ecchymosis	Risk of thermal injury and increased operation time
Ultrasound-assisted liposuction
Use of ultrasound for lipolysis of selective fat tissues by transforming electrical energy to mechanical vibration	Reduction of operation time and blood loss by cavity formation in tumescent fluid	High costs, need for larger incisions, and risk of thermal burns
Radiofrequency-assisted liposuction
Use of high-frequency oscillating electrical current to dissolve fat cells and to create small cavities in fatty cells	Induces immediate contractions of soft tissue and skin after suction of subcutaneous fat	Risk of thermal injury to skin and nerves

SAL = suction-assisted liposuction