Clarius Mobile Health reports that more plastic surgeons are investing in the Clarius L7 HD3 wireless scanner following the Florida Board of Medicine’s recent approval of an emergency order requiring the use of ultrasound during Brazilian butt lift (BBL) surgeries to avoid injecting fat into the muscle and reduce the risk of fat embolisms.

The Florida Board of Medicine is responding to an increase in deaths resulting from the popular BLL surgery: in the past five years, 19 women have died following their BBL surgery performed in South Florida. The procedure is considered to have one of the highest mortality rates of any cosmetic surgery, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

“I commend the Florida Board of Medicine for recommending the use of ultrasound for BBL procedures; it’s a positive step toward making the procedures safer,” says Pat Pazmiño, MD, FACS,  who has been using ultrasound at his practice for the past nine years and created the ultraBBL™ that combines the latest techniques in aesthetic surgery with ultrasound for the safest outcomes. He hopes that the use of ultrasound will change this once dangerous and blind procedure into a safe and reproducible surgery. 

“Ultrasound helps us see the anatomy and our instruments clearly in real-time so we can ensure we’re placing fat above the muscle safely with millimeter accuracy,” Pazmiño says. He also uses ultrasound before the procedure to understand how much fat graft can be placed in each patient. If the patient has limited space and wants a large result, he often recommends performing the surgery in stages rather than injecting too much fat in one surgery.

“Each patient’s anatomy is different and each patient desires different results,” Pazmiño says. “I like to prepare the patient before the surgery so they understand the kind of results they can expect. Ultrasound also helps me maximize the amount of fat that will survive by ensuring I put it in the right place.”

Pazmiño currently uses the Clarius L7 HD3 wireless ultrasound, which is available with a new Advanced Aesthetic Package for physicians who need additional customizations for examinations and procedures in the realm of facial aesthetics, breast augmentation, BBLs, hair follicle imaging, and more.

“It’s a crucial advancement in patient care to see organizations like the Florida Board of Medicine and leading physicians like Dr. Pazmiño recognize the value of using ultrasound for safer procedures,” says Clarius President Ohad Arazi. “We’re excited to be on the forefront of delivering affordable and easy-to-use ultrasound devices that can enable physicians from every specialty to deliver better outcomes.”

Clarius introduced its third-generation line of handheld ultrasound scanners earlier this year. The app-based scanners, which connect wirelessly with an app on Apple and Android phones and tablets, are designed to enable more physicians to use ultrasound. The third-generation devices are now 30% smaller, lighter, and more affordable, according to Clarius officials.

“With a little bit of training, I think anyone who has ever used an iPhone or an iPad will intuitively know how to use this,” says Marc Salzman, MD, a plastic surgeon based in Louisville, Ky., who has been using Clarius ultrasound to ensure safer surgical procedures for over five years. “Clarius HD3 is like holding your iPhone; it’s so small and light. There are no complicated knobs and buttons. You simply use the functions of your smart device such as swiping, pinching, and zooming and the AI does the rest. I don’t know how you do a practice like mine without it.”