Somewhere during the course of living, humans decided to put a price on their lives. And then they demanded quick satisfaction, instead of the slow, healthier process. Speed and recklessness can be a fatal combination and when it comes to losing weight, a lot of people bypass the safe method, for the fast and more dangerous method. It's a basic fact that the best way to lose weight is through a change in lifestyle, which will include watching your diet and daily exercise. Of course, this can be slow, tedious and boring, but it's safe and has proved to work.

But people live in a fast-paced world and they want instant results. The weight loss industry seems to release at least one wonder pill a year. People appear to be gaining weight at an alarming rate, especially in the US, so the public is more than ready to try any new weight loss drug. The major problem with these drugs is that they normally don't live up to their marketing hype and they all have side-effects. But drugs aren't the only things people will try to reduce their weight, they will also experiment with different medical procedures and one such procedure is liposuction.

Liposuction, is a way to remove fat from the body, using a form of suction. During a normal liposuction procedure, small, thin, tubes are inserted into tiny incisions in the skin. The doctor will guide the tubes under the skin while the fat is being suctioned out. The most common areas that liposuction is used on are the thighs, buttocks, arms, neck and abdomen. Liposuction is usually done as an outpatient procedure as it doesn't require hospitalization, unless a large amount of fat is being removed.

Before the creation of liposuction, the surgical knife was used to help remove fat. A lot of blood was lost during the surgical knife procedure. Liposuction was first done in 1974, in Italy. US physicians started to experiment with liposuction in the 1980s and in 1985, two US dermatologists created the tumescent technique, which made liposuction more safe and effective by removing the need for general anesthesia. Ultrasound was added to the liposuction procedure during the 1990s. The ultrasound liquefied the fat, which helped the tubes move more smoothly under the skin. Then came the Vaser System, which refined the use of ultrasound, created less trauma to the body and allowed the treated areas to be framed better.

Liposuction has been made safer over the years, but it's still surgery and any form of surgery is potentially risky. Although liposuction doesn't bill itself as a weight loss alternative, the removal of fat equates to the removal of weight. The danger with any new successful medical creation is that the public might abuse it. Liposuction is one of the most performed surgeries in the US. It's not abnormal for people to be concerned about their weight, but the extremes they're willing to put their bodies through can be very unhealthy. Liposuction may be safer, but there's nothing normal about it.