In Traditional Liposuction, also called Suction-Assisted Liposuction, the most common form of liposuction performed, the surgeon inserts a suction cannula through a small incision. The surgeon pushes and pulls the cannula through the fat layer to break up the fat tissue while suctioning the fatty tissue out of the body at the same time.
In Power-Assisted Liposuction, the surgeon's effort is helped by a mechanized suction probe to help in breaking up the fat tissue. As the surgeon pushes and pulls, the mechanized cannula moves side to side at the same time, making it the fastest form of liposuction, increasing fat removal by 25 - 40%.
Water-Assisted Liposuction (better known as Body-Jet™ or Water-Jet)
In Water-Assisted Liposuction, the cannula inserted sprays pressurized stream of normal saline with numbing solution to loosen and dislodge fat while simultaneously aspirating them. There is no pushing and pulling. As a result, there is usually very little bruising or swelling leading to short recovery time.
Notice that in the Traditional, Power-Assisted and Water-Assisted Liposuctions, there is no second step: the dissolution or melting of fat tissue. It makes sense, why VASER Lipo or ProLipo PLUS can provide more smoothing and more natural-looking results avoiding much of the "lumpy bumpy" highs and lows in the skin after liposuction.