Body Contouring - How To Get The Figure You Want

You may have worked hard with diet and exercise for months even years to get the body you want. Perhaps you have spent hours on a treadmill or Peleton to get rid of fat and give you the body of your dreams.

But despite all that work, you still have excess fat on your belly, sides, or under your chin. This is where body contouring can help you take the final steps to get rid of those stubborn pockets of fat and give you the svelte shape you have dreamed of. 

There are several ways that you can contour your body with and without surgery that may give you ideal results and Double-Board-Certified Philadelphia Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Stark is sharing with Barbie's Beauty Bits on how to get the body you want with body contouring.

Top Nonsurgical Body Contouring Treatments

Laser Lipolysis For Body Sculpting
This is known as SculpSure, and it uses laser energy to heat and destroy fat cells. The high temperatures created by the device cause the fat cells to overheat and die. Your lymphatic system will flush out the fat cells out after about 12 weeks.

The most popular areas of the body are the flanks and abdomen. Each SculpSure treatment takes about 25 minutes, and there is no recovery time. You will usually need three or four treatments for the best results.

Radiofrequency Lipolysis For Non-Surgical Fat Reduction
This is a nonsurgical body contouring procedure that features ultrasound technology to contour your body. The advantage of this technique is it’s gentle to your skin as it treats fat pockets. Patients report that the treatment is effective and causes no discomfort.

It’s used most often on the flanks and abdomen, with each treatment taking about one hour. Most patients can go back to their activities the same day. Several treatments are required to get the body shape you desire.

Injection Lipolysis For Effective Reduction Of Chin Fat
This technique uses the FDA-approved Kybella injectable treatment to treat fat under the chin, also called a double chin. Kybella uses a form of deoxycholic acid that helps the body to absorb fat. When used in the chin, it can kill undesirable fat cells.

Your body will metabolize the dead fat cells for several weeks after the treatment. Kybella is usually used under the chin only to treat a double chin.

The treatment takes about 30 minutes, and there is some bruising and swelling afterward. But you should be able to return to daily activities the same day. 

Body Contouring Compared To Liposuction
Tumescent liposuction is an effective way to remove undesirable fat pockets from the body. The surgeon places a cannula under the skin that injects lidocaine and epinephrine to reduce swelling and bleeding.

Next, fat is suctioned out with the cannula to give your body the contours you desire. However, liposuction is surgery, and there are risks, including:

• Infection
• Anesthesia risks
• Damage to organs
• Fluid accumulation
• Deep vein thrombosis
• Pulmonary and cardiac complications
  

The advantage of nonsurgical body contouring is fewer risks because it isn’t surgery and doesn’t require anesthesia. Also, non-surgical body contouring is usually less expensive than surgical procedures as liposuction.

The other factor is liposuction requires recovery and downtime. You also will need to wear a compression garment for several weeks after surgery.

Are You A Good Candidate For Body Contouring?
Body contouring is nonsurgical, so many people are good candidates for these procedures. Ideal candidates include:

• People who are close to their ideal weight. Remember that body contouring, like liposuction, isn’t a way to lose weight. It does get rid of fat cells, but body contouring is designed to fine-tune your shape, not eliminate many pounds of fat. The best body contouring patient is within 10 or 20 pounds of their ideal body weight. If you are above that weight, you should probably work with your doctor to slim down first.
• Those with realistic expectations. As with any cosmetic procedure, you should go into it with realistic expectations. If you have reasonable goals, you should be pleased with your body contouring results.
• People who want to firm up sagging skin. Some body contouring can tighten up the skin as well as eliminate fat pockets.
  

Body contouring can be an ideal way to fine-tune your shape after significant weight loss, and it also is a great way to take that final step to give you the body you have worked so hard to achieve.

Experience The Stark Difference
More About Dr. Ran Stark And The Practice

Dr. Ran Stark is double board-certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. After medical school, he finished more than 10 years of surgical training, including an aesthetic surgery fellowship under Dr. Louis Bucky.

Dr. Stark was born and raised in Philadelphia and earned his bachelor’s in biology from the University of Delaware. He completed medical school at Tel-Aviv University, where he won the Hillel Nathan Award for Academic Excellence in Anatomy.

To learn more about StarkMD Plastic Surgery in Philadelphia, visit him online.

References

Body Contouring Overview. (n.d.). Accessed at https://www.healthline.com/health/body-contouring

What Is Body Contouring? (n.d.). Accessed at https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/21525-body-countouring

Body Contouring by Dr. Ran Stark. (n.d). Accessed at https://www.starkmdplasticsurgery.com/body/post-weight-loss-body-contouring/

Liposuction by Dr. Ran Stark. (n.d). Accessed at https://www.starkmdplasticsurgery.com/body/liposuction/