Histological Evaluation of Skin Tissue Treated With Vibration Amplification of Sound Energy at Resonance

Abstract

Currently, ultrasound-assisted liposuction has been widely used under empirical criteria. To date, no exhaustive description of the histological effects that are exerted during Vibration Amplification of Sound Energy at Resonance (VASER) application has been reported. Here, we describe the histological alterations in the skin of lipectomy flaps after using the VASER technology at different power settings.Four lipectomy flaps were resected and treated with VASER at 50% or 100% power for 1 minute in duplicate. Therefore, each experimental condition was tested on 8 tissue samples. We described the histopathological alterations in the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. The observations were performed by 2 independent morphologists unrelated to the lipectomy and treatment procedures. In the histopathological analysis, we did not find significant differences in the histopathological alterations of the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis using both power settings. However, the dermis of the flaps subjected to 100% power showed considerable collagen fibers degradation and more adipocytes with ruptured membranes in comparison with the flaps treated with 50% power. Although we did not find significant differences between the 2 power conditions tested in this study, more histological alterations in the dermis were observed with the maximum power setting even at a “safe” distance reported in the conventional technique. However, this study was the first approach to determine the histological effects of VASER application, therefore, these results must be corroborated in further studies with a greater number of lipectomies, as well as more specific histopathological analyses. Finally, the data shown in this study reflect the importance of optimizing VASER procedures to increase the safety and efficacy of this technique.