all over liposuction

female: and laser lipo, a brand-new type ofliposuction, promises to cause you less pain and get you back on your feet in just 24 hours.it's now being offered in pittsburgh. find out how it works. [music] male: this is kvk tv news at five. ken rice: this really is none of my business,this question, but i must ask anyway. do you have a little extra flab that you just can'tseem to get rid of, but you can't quite stomach the idea of having liposuction? patrice king brown: well, if that is the case,then you will be thrilled to know that a new,

less invasive type of liposuction is beingoffered in the pittsburgh area. it claims to be almost painless, and that you can beback on your feet the very next day. the question is, is it really like that? well, alison morrisis here with lauren. alison, how does this work? alison morris: well, patrice, it's actuallypretty simple. laser liposuction can be done right in the doctor's office with just localanesthesia, and it takes less than an hour. if you find it hard to believe that your fatcould be gone in a flash, take a look at what happened when one local woman gave smartlipoa try. dr. brandy: it was 38 all the way around.we measured 32, so that's about three inches

on each side. cheri berkey: i think a woman likes to hearthose numbers go down. dr. brandy: yeah, yeah, we like that. alison morris: six inches off your hip areain just ten days sound too good to be true? well, ask 44-year-old cheri berkey of jerome,pa, who says that's exactly what laser liposuction, otherwise known as smartlipo, did for her. cheri berkey: actually, i'm very happy withit. i couldn't be happier. alison morris: cheri was looking for a wayto get rid of the small but stubborn saddlebags on her outer thighs, but thought that traditionalliposuction was too invasive and would leave

her skin saggy. then she heard about smartlipo. cheri berkey: if there was ever a procedureout there that i was comfortable with having done, and thought that it was the procedurefor me. when i read about this about a year ago, i knew that this was the procedure iwanted, and i wanted to wait for dr. brandy. alison morris: dr. brandy runs the skin centerat mt. lebanon and is currently the only cosmetic surgeon offering smartlipo in the pittsburgharea. the procedure uses a laser which liquefies small amounts of fat, tightens the skin, andcan be used all over the body. dr. brandy: you can do it anywhere. the neckis a common area and arms. a lot of times women have problems with the arms. that'sa very common area. women that are post-menopausal,

it's amazing how the fat starts accumulatingon the back, and then the flank area, and then the abdomen. alison morris: so how does smartlipo work?well, a patient comes in and identifies a problem spot, like cheri did with her thighs.once the area is marked off, the patient is then numbed with a local anesthesia and sentto the operating room, where surgery takes less than an hour. according to cheri, it'spain-free. female: how are you feeling? cheri berkey: i actually feel just fine. it'sfine. no pain. alison morris: so how is this procedure differentfrom traditional liposuction?

dr. brandy: it's much more gentle and thenyou get the skin-tightening effect and the post-operative period is going to be a lotbetter, because you have a lot less bleeding, and bruising, and swelling, and so forth. this would be for somebody that's pretty muchideal weight. they're not that overweight, that has a stubborn area that they can't getrid of. alison morris: you can really see the differencebetween traditional liposuction and laser liposuction when you look at the tools theyuse. this is what removes fat from your thigh in traditional liposuction. this is what removesfat from your thigh with laser liposuction. dr. brandy: how was your post-operative course?everything fine?

cheri berkey: everything was great. i workedthe next day. dr. brandy: you did? cheri berkey: it didn't hurt. dr. brandy: i heard you drove home, also. cheri berkey: i drove home. alison morris: and the results can be seenright away. here, after just ten days, cheri has already lost the fat and is just waitingfor the bruising and swelling to fade away. cheri berkey: this is something that i'vealways wanted. i wanted rid of these saddlebags. i'm so happy that they're gone. this is somethingthat i've always wanted done, and i'm going

to be bikini-ready this summer. alison morris: if you're wondering about thecost, smartlipo starts at around $3000, and a procedure like cheri's costs $4000. that'snearly 50% less than traditional liposuction. now, how about the risks? well, like nearlyany medical procedure, you need to be concerned about side effects like infection. with lasersurgery, a patient can risk burning of the skin if the doctor doesn't use the laser properly,though this is an extremely rare occurrence. and according to dr. brandy, laser liposuctionhas far fewer risks than traditional lipo, because it's less invasive and doesn't requiregeneral anesthesia. ken?