ABSTRACT
The history of practical modern liposuction in the United States began in 1982, when several physicians, including the author, visited Paris to take courses given by Yves Illouz and Pierre Fournier of France and Georgio Fischer of Italy. The experience of these physicians plus the innovations by Illouz made liposuction a technique destined to become the most popular cosmetic surgery within only a few years [1]. Illouz pioneered three innovative changes. These included the use of blunt cannulas to push vital tissues such as blood vessels and nerves out of the way, the injection of small amounts of a hypotonic saline solution into the tissue prior to surgery, and the popularization of the technique worldwide. The use of blunt cannulas and a wet technique markedly decreased bleeding and left vertical septae, which kept the blood and nerve supply to the overlying tissue [2]. The honeycombed tunnels produced in the fat allowed the skin to collapse rather than form large cavities in which fluid or blood could accumulate as hematomas or seromas. Illouz calls this ‘‘adipoaspiration by tunnelization.’’ He started using these improvements in 1977 to suck out a lipoma on the back of a French movie actress who wanted only a small scar on her de´collete´.
After experience with many patients he presented the findings at a meeting of the American Society for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Hawaii in October 1982 [2,3]. The procedure had already been presented in France in the late 1970s and in Japan in 1980. The following year, 1983, these findings were published [2,3].
