In most cases, weight loss comes with bodily changes that often leave loose skin in certain parts of the body like the arms and thighs. Body contouring or body sculpting is a medical or surgical procedure that mostly fine-tunes your body’s shape and can rid the body of excess skin after weight loss. These are surgical procedures that improve the appearance of your skin and tissue after major weight loss. It can also eliminate fat and extra skin, tighten your skin and contour different parts of your body. 

The process targets most areas of the body which include the back, arms, belly and flanks, thighs, buttocks, neck and chin. Some of the common surgical options are tucks, lifts and liposuction. Body contouring surgeries like panniculectomy involve the removal of excess skin in your lower abdominal region). Others like abdominoplasty focus on your tummy. Though surgical procedures are riskier and require a longer recovery period the results are more visible. You can make a body contouring appointment and find out more about the different treatment sessions available to help you achieve your desired outcome. Here’s more about body contouring to help you decide if it’s the best fit for you.

Types of Body Contouring

Body contouring procedures can either be surgical or nonsurgical body contouring like lipolysis.

 Liposuction

Liposuction is a suction technique that removes fat from certain areas of the body. Liposuction methods include laser lipolysis, cryolipolysis, radiofrequency lipolysis and injection lipolysis. 

• Laser lipolysis is a thermal effect that destroys fat cells using laser technology.
• Cryolipolysis like CoolSculpting destroys fat cells using very cold temperatures. CoolSculpting is a non-surgical method that destroys fat cells by freezing them.
• Radiofrequency lipolysis uses ultrasound waves to destroy fat cells.
• Injection lipolysis requires the injection of deoxycholic acid into the body.

Body contouring surgery

Body contouring surgery is mostly done after rapid weight loss to lift excess skin or areas where liposuction results weren’t as expected and achieve the desired contour. Your surgeon might combine some of the procedures to give you a more defined contour. This is usually after they perform an in-depth analysis of your body and lifestyle to determine which surgical technique is the best. Skin surgery lifts include buttock lift, thigh lift, arm lift, abdominoplasty and breast lift, reduction or augmentation to restore breast contour and shape.

Benefits, risks and side effects

Body contouring procedures are nonsurgical with minimally invasive to non-invasive procedures making them convenient for all persons. Due to the short recovery time of nonsurgical procedures, you can resume daily activities immediately after the procedure. This allows even those with busy schedules to resume work after the treatment. The risks and side effects associated with body contouring include mild, short-term side effects such as redness, swelling, and pain.

Published on Holr Magazine