Liposuction for body contouring is a great way to reshape your body and target those areas of fat that have been resistant to diet and exercise.
While this procedure is not intended for weight loss, if you’ve been dieting and exercising for years with no progress, liposuction can help you achieve your goals and give you that boost you need to continue leading a healthy lifestyle.
What Is Body Contouring Liposuction?
In many ways, liposuction and body contouring naturally go hand-in-hand. So, it’s no surprise that the two terms may be used interchangeably. Whether this is “correct” or not depends on who you ask.
In order to explain the body contouring liposuction procedure, it’s first important to “come to terms”. That is, we must define what each term (body contouring and liposuction) means.
What Is Liposuction?
Traditional liposuction procedures aim to get rid of excess fat on the body. Liposuction can be performed almost anywhere, but most patients tend to want it around their abdomen, flanks, and back; on the upper arms; on the inner thighs; and sometimes around the knees, chin, or elsewhere.
There are different techniques and technologies associated with liposuction. You may have heard of Vaser liposuction, for example, or the HD liposuction procedure (high definition lipo). These are simply different techniques and approaches to the removal of excess fat.
What Is Body Contouring?
Body contouring is a bit more difficult to define because plastic surgeons will use this term in different ways. Looking online, you may see the term “body contouring” being used for non-invasive liposuction procedures such as InMode Evolve or CoolSculpting, for instance.
But on the flip side, it is also a term that is commonly used for the plastic surgery procedures that weight loss patience will undergo after they lose weight. For example, weight loss patients often have a lot of excess abdominal skin, so they may need a tummy tuck.
Arm lift surgery is another common post weight-loss procedure as are upper body lifts and lower body lifts.
In the context of “body contouring liposuction”, we are talking about reshaping the body with liposuction, which is a surgical procedure (not a non-invasive procedure).
What to Expect From Liposuction Body Contouring
Most of the patients who would benefit from liposuction body contouring procedures are at a healthy weight. That is, they are not severely overweight or obese. Additionally, they want to re-contour their bodies, which basically means they want to get rid of certain pockets of excess fat.
Patients often come into our office saying they’ve tried dieting for years and put forth a lot of effort, and they just haven’t been able to get anywhere in terms of weight loss.
They don’t have a ton of weight to lose, but they just want to feel more confident in their own skin, be able to buy the clothes they want, wear a bathing suit at the beach, and perhaps use plastic surgery as a boost to continue losing weight and getting fitter.
Body Contouring With Liposuction Procedure Steps
If you decide to move forward with body contouring with liposuction, you’d first start by booking a consultation appointment with a board certified plastic surgeon who has experience in this area. At your plastic surgery consultation appointment, ask questions and be open about what you’re seeking to achieve.
You’ll have a short physical examination, look at some body contouring before and after photos and liposuction before and after photos, discuss body contouring liposuction recovery, and possibly go over body contouring and liposuction cost as well.
Most notably, you’ll decide where on your body you’d like to have liposuction performed.
On the day of your surgery, make sure you have someone ready to take you home after the procedure. Wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing. You’ll first be taken to the operating room, and anesthesia will be administered. General anesthesia or local anesthesia may be used, depending on the circumstances.
Your plastic surgeon will then make the appropriate incisions, use a liposuction cannula(thin tube) to remove excess fat cells, and close up your incisions. Traditional liposuction techniques may be used, or some lipo surgical procedures will use Vaser technology, laser technology, etc.
Finally, you will be monitored in a recovery room for a short time, and then released to go home.
Does Liposuction for Body Contouring Make You Lose Weight?
Anytime you remove fat from the body, the number on the scale is going to go down. But it’s important to note that liposuction is not a weight loss procedure, nor is body contouring. Both of these surgical approaches aim to reshape and recontour the body, but they are not weight loss solutions.
If you have a significant amount of fat to lose, it’s important that you approach this challenge in another way. Many patients choose to change their lifestyle by adopting a healthier diet and including more exercise in their daily routines.
Others who have a larger amount of weight to lose may decide to go with a medical weight loss approach, such as Ozempic, or to undergo weight loss surgery.
Once you have lost a significant amount of weight, you may choose to do some “refining” with body contouring liposuction. Or, some weight loss patients do require skin removal for loose skin as well.
FAQ: Liposuction Body Contouring Surgery
Can liposuction sculpt your body?
Yes, definitely. By removing pockets of stubborn fat, you are essentially body sculpting and reshaping your overall profile.
What is the difference between liposuction and body contouring?
This depends on who you ask. Liposuction removes excess fat. How much fat you need removed could be the determining factor.
Body contouring surgery may refer to non-invasive contouring procedures, post-weight loss plastic surgery (breast lift surgery, tummy tucks, body lifts, etc. to remove excess skin and fat), or surgical re-contouring with liposuction.
How long does liposuction last?
As long as there is no significant weight gain, liposuction results should be permanent. Of course, we cannot stop the hands of time. So eventually, patients’ fat distribution may change, and they will eventually encounter wrinkles, sagging skin, etc.
Book a Body Contouring Consultation Today
Body contouring liposuction procedures can truly transform your new body shape, giving you a well-deserved self-esteem boost and more confidence as you move forward in life.
If you are interested in learning more about the liposuction body contouring procedure and other plastic surgery procedures in Beverly Hills, please give our office a call and schedule an in-person consultation with board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Charles Galanis.
