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New liposuction technique uses gold nanoparticles
A startup may have just struck gold with a novel new technique for removing excess fat.
NanoLipo injects a solution of gold nanorods into fatty tissue, and the fat is melted by an infrared laser beam that hits the tissue.
“(I) thought maybe these gold particles could also be used to melt and remove fat,” University of California San Diego professor and nanomedicine expert Adah Almutairi said on Chemical and Engineering News.


She said she stumbled on the idea when she was heading to Cancun in Mexico for a vacation, five months after giving birth to her son and not having time to regain her physique.
Wanting to lose 10 pounds, she recalled that gold nanoparticles heat up quickly when exposed to infrared light.
Upon returning from her vacation, she discussed the matter with brother Khalid Almutairi, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon.
Khalid noted most liposuction patients prefer a mechanical procedure, dubbed suction-assisted liposuction.
Under this procedure, a physician injects a person’s fat with a large amount of saline solution containing a local anesthetic and a drug to reduce bleeding, then scrapes it with a needle with sharp edges.
However, this was not quite effective as connective tissues and nerves are removed too.
Khalid said that with their technique, the tissue integrity is maintained since fat melts at a lower temperature compared to connective tissue or nerve cells.
Butter and bacon
Almutairi and her team tested the technique with 40-nanometer gold nanorods into butter and bacon.
With an 800-nm laser, the team liquefied the fatty substances within a minute or two.
The Almutairis then licensed NanoLipo and continued preclinical studies.
John Lyon, Chief Executive Officer, said eLux hopes to begin a human clinical trial of NanoLipo later 2014, and bring the product to market as early as 2017. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News
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