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Lunchtime laser liposuction results

By Mari-Ela David - bio | email

PUNCHBOWL (KHNL) - It has been one week since KHNL featured liposuction so advanced, patients can get the new procedure done over their lunch break, and go to work the next day.

A patient who is among the first in Hawaii to try it shared her results.

It's clear from her before and after photos the procedure works. The after photo is one week after the surgery. Actual results take a month, which is how long it takes before the swelling completely disappears, so the after photo does not reflect maximum results.

But is it really that much faster and less painful than traditional liposuction? We caught up with Kalei Fernandes of Hawaii Kai to find out.

A warning - some of the video may be a little graphic.

Going under the laser, instead of the traditional knife, Fernandes tried 'SlimLipo' on her stomach and inner thighs.

One week later, we joined Fernandes at The Queen's Medical Center for her check-up with plastic surgeon, Dr. Shim Ching, the first to offer 'SlimLipo' in Hawaii.

"I'm not really that swollen, a little tender but other than that, it was a lot less pain than I thought I was going to be in," said Fernandes.

Fernandes says the next day, she was only on Tylenol, nothing stronger.

The inventors of SlimLipo say the new procedure is less traumatic than traditional liposuction. Instead of breaking and suctioning out fat that's still intact, the laser melts the fat before it's removed.

Needing only local anesthesia, Fernandes was awake during surgery, and walked right out after she was done.

"I felt really good, I don't know if it was the pain meds, I just went right home, and I went to sleep and I felt fine," she said.

Fernandes says she is still a little sore.

"It's like if you banged into a wall or hit your knee or stubbed your toe, it's kind of like that kind of pain, it's not really anything big," she said.

But Fernandes didn't end up going to work the next day as planned, saying she was too tired from the lingering effects of the anesthesia.

"I took the day off because I didn't want to just go right into it, but I could've gone," she said.

The high-tech procedure costs about $3500 for one area. Since Fernandes had two areas done, she paid about $6000.

But SlimLipo isn't for everyone. Dr. Ching says it's for smaller amounts of fat. For people with larger amounts, he recommends traditional liposuction.

"It's not a way of losing weight, it's just a way of re-shaping the body into a more pleasant shape," he said.

It's a shape Fernandes is happy with, as she leaves the office, ready to go on a cruise in a couple weeks.

"I'm excited! I'm going to buy bathing suits in Italy," she said.