If you want to eliminate fat, shape areas of the body, and tighten up your skin, then you should consider body contouring. There are a lot of options in New Orleans body contouring, including surgical and nonsurgical procedures. So, what is body contouring? Know your options from the expert surgeons in New Orleans.
What is body contouring?
Body contouring, also known as body sculpting, is a medical or surgical procedure that reshapes an area of a body. They are procedures that get rid of extra skin, eliminate excess fat, and reshape and contour certain areas of your body. It helps shape the body and addresses specific areas where weight loss is not effective or has extra skin after significant weight loss instead of helping you lose weight.
Commonlydiscuss targeted areas of the body:
- Thighs
- Buttocks
- Back
- Arms
- Belly
- Flanks (love handles)
- Neck
- Chin
Different Types of Body Contouring
- Radiofrequency lipolysis uses ultrasound waves and heat to target fat cells.
- Cryolipolysis uses very cold temperatures to destroy fat cells.
- Laser lipolysis uses lasers to destroy fat cells.
- Injection lipolysis would involve putting deoxycholic acid into the body in order to target fat cells.
- Liposuction is a procedure that suctions out fat deposits.
- Lift and tucks are surgical procedures that could remove excess fat and extra skin like abdominoplasty, double chin surgery, facelift or rhytidectomy, and breast lift or mastopexy.
Pros of Safe Body Contouring
- Symptomatic improvement
- Smoother skin
- More defined, well-shaped body parts
- Younger and thinner appearance
- You could notice the changes immediately when you get a surgical body contouring procedure.
- It may take a few weeks or even months to see the difference when you choose one of the nonsurgical body contouring options.
What happens before body contouring?
When you meet with a plastic surgeon:
- Use of alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs
- Your goals
- Any medications that you are taking, includes vitamins and over-the-counter drugs
- Your medical history including health conditions, allergies, and previous surgeries
- Review the risks and options, as well as discuss the anesthesia and post-operative pain controls if you are considering surgery
- Take pictures for the before and after
- Examine and measure the area or the areas that you want to change
- Draw on the area or areas that you want to have to surgery with a marker or a pen for a better visual
- Discuss your options and make recommendations on what you could and could not do
You are going to have to sign a consent form, giving them permission to perform the procedure, if you decide to move forward. This is a sign that you agree that you understand the risks of the procedure or procedures and have realistic expectations.
What happens during liposuction and other surgical body contouring?
If you are planning on getting a surgical body contouring procedure, it could last for about 45 minutes to several hours, depending on what you want to have done. Here are some of the things that you may expect during this procedure:
- Mark the sites pre-operatively
- Position you on a surgical table and do safety checks with nursing and anesthesia.
- Administer anesthesia — local or general — based on the procedure.
- Clean and prepare the skin in the surgical area.
- Make incisions (cuts) in your skin — these are based on the procedure(s) performed.
- Cut, reposition or shape tissue and excess fat to create the look you want.
- Tightening muscles during abdominoplasty is common.
- Trim excess skin.
- Suction out excess fat using liposuction by itself or in combination with other procedures.
- Close any incisions when the procedure is complete.
- Apply bandages.
What happens during non-surgical lipolysis?
The team may give you the following:
- Give you a robe or a hospital gown to wear
- Position you on a chair or table
- Mark the skin with a pen or marker so that you could see where they are doing the procedure
- Inject a drug in the area where you would want to reduce far for injection lipolysis
- They use paddles of a wand so that they could deliver ultrasound waves, laser beams, cold or heat, depending on the type of lipolysis
What happens after body contouring?
- They would teach you how to care for the drains and change the bandages
- They would give you medications like ointments or pills so that you could control the pain or prevent infection
- Minding over-activity, but ambulating to avoid blood clots
- Stay out of the sun
- Report any complications, which would be explained to you after the operation or the procedure