What is Body Contouring?
After significant weight loss, from both diet and exercise or after bariatric surgery, excess skin and fat are often left behind. Body contouring involves the removal of sagging skin and fat in multiple areas, using various techniques and is most commonly performed on the tummy or mid-section, arms, thighs, buttocks and even the face and neck. A “body lift” may combine several surgical procedures.
The goal is to improve the shape and tone of the underlying tissue and remove excess skin and fat. In regions where the skin has good elasticity and is able to conform to new body contours, liposuction may be an option for removal of excess fat. But, where skin elasticity is poor, a combination of a skin excision (removal) and liposuction may be recommended.
An upper body lift focuses on the breasts and back, as well as the arms. If you desire to reshape these areas, discuss this with Dr. Waltzman during your consultation.
Body contouring can rid you of loose and hanging skin, make your clothes fit better, remove the source of painful chafing, rashes, and infections, and improve your self-esteem.
How is it Done?
Although liposuction is effective at removing fat, it is not able to remove excess skin. The only way to effectively remove excess skin is with a surgical procedure. Having surgery means trading the excess loose skin for a scar. Scars do improve with time, and most patients are very happy to rid themselves of the excess skin for better fitting clothes and improved self-image.
Who is a candidate for body contouring?
- Bariatric surgery patients with significant tissue laxity in multiple body areas
- People who have successfully lost excess weight naturally by diet and exercise where excess skin and fat tissue remains
- You are at or near your ideal or desired body weight, and you have been weight stable for at least 6 months.
- You must be healthy and have no medical conditions that can impair healing or increase the risks of surgery
- Non-smokers
- You are committed to leading a healthy lifestyle and maintaining a healthy weight and fitness level
You would be well advised to wait until a year after your bariatric surgery or significant weight loss because studies show that those who wait a year before undergoing a body lift reduce their risk of complications, and shorten their hospital stay.
Your Body Contouring Consultation
Dr. Josh Waltzman will meet with you to discuss your surgical goals, evaluate your health, examine and measure your body, take photos, discuss your surgical options and likely outcomes. He will offer his recommendation about a course of treatments to achieve your goals. You will have plenty of time to ask your questions and address your concerns. You have taken a huge step toward health with weight loss, you can do things you couldn’t before and you should be proud. Now it’s time to take the last step to achieve the body you want!
Schedule a Consultation
Ready to book a procedure with Dr. Waltzman? Contact us today to schedule a consultation and begin your new aesthetic journey today!
Schedule a Consultation
Ready to book a procedure with Dr. Waltzman? Contact us today to schedule a consultation and begin your new aesthetic journey today!
Why Choose Dr. Waltzman?
Dr. Waltzman is kind and compassionate, and he cares about you. He is dedicated to his patients. Dr. Waltzman will take time to listen to you, and help you in the decision making process. His office is quiet and private. He is talented, and experienced, and uses the latest techniques to help achieve your goals. His aim is to provide you with the most natural results.
When your weight is stabilized, and you remain distressed by sagging hanging skin, consider body contouring surgery. This is an opportunity to get your body back. Schedule a consultation with Dr. Waltzman in Long Beach and the surrounding areas.
Body Contouring FAQs
Though body contouring and weight loss both reduce your total body fat, they work in very different ways. Weight loss and weight gain is a process of your existing fat cells shrinking or growing. When losing weight, generally the fat cells throughout your body shrink.
With body contouring, the fat cells are directly removed from a specific area of the body. It has been designed especially for people who are a healthy weight or mildly overweight and want to surgically resolve one or two stubborn fatty areas.
As such, body contouring does not generate the same holistic results as weight loss brought on through diet and exercise.
As body contouring is made up of many different methods, each one has a unique treatment plan, and take varying amounts of time. This is true both for how long treatment takes in-office and for recovery times. Liposuctions, for instance, will produce results after a single treatment but requires a few days post-surgery to allow for recovery before you return to work. CoolSculpting, however, as a non-surgical option doesn’t come with any recovery time, though results may not be seen for several weeks after treatment.
Once you have completed a treatment course of your body contouring procedure(s), you will not need any extra treatments to maintain results.
However, body sculpting does not stop your body’s natural processes of weight gain or weight loss, so it is still possible for you to gain back the removed fat. To maintain long-term results, patients should stick to a healthy diet and routinely exercise.
Each patient’s unique body responds differently to CoolScuplting. Some people are able to return to light gym exercise or running the same day they receive the treatment. Others may feel bruised or sore and need a few days of downtime before returning to their usual lifestyle.
Either way works great with the procedure, what is most important is listening to your body and staying comfortable. Downtime will not interfere with results.
Most important to maintaining results is a healthy diet! If you keep up with a balanced intake of calories and food groups, results can last for years.
CoolSculpting is an investment in yourself. The best way to honor this investment and ensure you get the best results is to keep up exercise and a healthy diet. Ideal patients should be already working towards or at their ideal weight.
If you are committed to these lifestyle habits, your results can last a lifetime, though experiences vary based on your unique physiology and genetics. We are happy to discuss all the options available to see if you are a good candidate for CoolSculpting or other body contouring procedures.