There are those who believe that large volume liposuction is a viable alternative to weight loss the usual way - that is through diet and exercise - but that would be a mistake to assume. In fact, liposuction is a body contouring procedure - a way to create a more pleasing silhouette by sculpting away unwanted pockets of fat. Liposuction was never designed to make you go from fat to thin.

Nevertheless, there are those among us who have a little more stubborn fat to lose than others. Sometimes, especially after our very best efforts to lose the extra weight, we can find ourselves with fat pockets that are almost impossible to shrink. At that point, liposuction becomes an option worth considering.

With traditional lipo techniques, removing significant amounts of fat was a challenge, as the more fat that was suctioned out, the greater the risk of bleeding and excess fluid loss were. This is because with traditional liposuction, the fat is mechanically broken up before being suctioned out. Any connective tissue, blood vessels or other body tissues that got in the way of this process were also damaged. This can lead to a significantly increased recovery time afterward as this liposuction method is very traumatic on the body.

One of the pitfalls to be avoided is that if too much fat extracted from the one area, this can lead to visible depressions under the skin.

Fairly recently though, the advent of a new liposelection technique called Vaser liposuction has taken the cosmetic surgery world by storm. VASER stands for Vibration Amplification of Sound Energy at Resonance; otherwise known as ultrasound energy. Vaser received the FDA stamp of approval for fat removal a couple of years back.

Vaser has a great advantage over other liposuction techniques because it uses the ultrasound energy to break up the fat inside the body before it is removed. The real genius of the Vaser system is in the selective nature of the ultrasound waves. In the hands of an experienced, well-trained cosmetic Vaser surgeon, the ultrasound waves produced by the Vaser leave vital areas - like blood vessels, muscles and internal organs - relatively untouched.

Cosmetic surgeons use the Vaser for small and large volume fat extraction. It is versatile enough to sculpt smaller areas like the neck and chin, as well as much larger areas such as the abdomen, back and chest.

This means large volume liposuction can be a lot safer, with a quicker recovery time.