Before liposuction was developed, unwanted fat deposits could only be removed by cutting them out with a scalpel. This method never really gained in popularity because of the propensity for complications, and because the results tended to be uneven. It was not until Dr. Giorgio Fischer, an Italian gynecologist, developed a method of fat removal involving a scraping instrument attached to a suction machine in 1974, that the modern-day liposuction procedure was born.