06 Feb Body Contouring Gives You Results the Gym Can’t
You’ve attained your goal weight, you hit the gym regularly, and you’ve maintained a healthy diet and even learned to love kale—so why doesn’t your body mirror all of your efforts? Dr. Shaun Parson Plastic Surgery & Skin Center is committed to helping you achieve the goals you’ve worked so hard for with a variety of surgical and non-surgical body contouring procedures. It’s a new year, and the new you is a lot closer than you think.
There’s a serious problem with relying on diet and exercise alone to achieve your ideal body goals. Both of these approaches are important and healthy on a holistic level, but they only serve to shrink fat cells. These best practices don’t get rid of them. Plus, you’ve heard it said before that you can’t spot reduce, and that’s certainly true when you opt for only diet and exercise. You inherited a certain amount of fat cells distributed in a way that’s 100% unique to you. That’s why you always have the same general “shape” no matter what you weigh.
Some people struggle with stubborn pockets of fat on their hips, while others don’t understand why their abs don’t show even though they’re always working on planks and mountain climbers (hint: you can’t have any tummy fat if you want to show off your gym results). Fortunately, there’s a wide suite of options available to both target unwanted, lingering fat and get rid of it for good.
Surgical Options for Body Sculpting
The two most popular options for surgical body contouring are liposuction and a tummy tuck. Liposuction is the removal of unwanted fat through a vacuum-like handheld device. The incisions are nearly invisible, which means a very small recovery period compared to most other types of cosmetic surgeries. The results are also immediate, although some minor swelling and bruising often accompany liposuction. You’ll see the full results a couple of weeks after your surgery, once all swelling has subsided.
Liposuction has been a very popular treatment for decades. It can remove larger amounts of fat than non-invasive alternatives and patients love the fact that they’ll see results right away. Tummy tucks are also very popular, and often include liposuction. This surgery addresses the side effect of losing weight, being post-partum, or having severe skin laxity due to aging, genetics, or weight fluctuations.
Contouring the body doesn’t just mean removing fat. It can also include removing excess skin. If your tummy looks crepe-like or has hanging, sagging skin, no amount of weight loss is going to fix it. You need surgical intervention for the flat, taut tummy of your dreams. A tummy tuck requires a horizontal incision that’s hidden below your beltline. Excess skin is removed and at the same time the abdominal muscles are surgically tightened (you can also opt for liposuction during this surgery if you have lingering fat). The downtime is much longer than with liposuction, but you can get back to many of your daily activities within a month of surgery.
A Lighter Touch with Non-Surgical Body Contouring
If fat loss and excess skin isn’t your top body contouring concern, there’s also non-surgical options for you. Venus Legacy is an advanced treatment to reduce cellulite and wrinkles with no needles and no downtime. It uses radiofrequency technology and can treat areas of any size and all skin types. When tissue is safely heated up at the subcutaneous level, both cellulite, deep fat pockets, and wrinkles are targeted as blood circulation increases. This encourages the body’s lipolysis process, which naturally minimizes the appearance of cellulite for younger-looking, smoother skin.
Emsculpt is a body sculpting procedure that focuses on building your muscles. Today’s ideal aesthetic emphasizes strong over skinny, but it can be very difficult to build the kind of washboard abs or celebrity-inspired glutes when you’re juggling a busy schedule. Emsculpt forces the muscles you want to tone into 20,000 supramaximal contractions in just 30 minutes. That’s like achieving 20,000 crunches or lunges in half an hour.
These are just a few of the options you have for body contouring and sculpting with fast results that will save you time and effort in the new decade. To learn more or to schedule your appointment, call our office today at (480) 282-8386.