WANT THE CONFIDENCE THAT COMES WITH
KNOWING YOU LOOK YOUR BEST?
Author: Babak Moein, MD FACSBoard-certified,
Fellowship trained in Cosmetic Surgery
Fellowship trained in Cosmetic Surgery
Reviewer: Arian Mowlavi, MD FACS
Body Contouring
Body Contouring CASE STUDIES
High Definition Body Contouring
Introduction: High Definition Body Contouring
High definition body contouring describes the sculpting of the human body as if it is a glorified statue. This requires a surgeon proficient in the art of surgery and possessing an artistic eye, drive, and skill to create masterpiece body sculptures. High definition body contouring was coined to describe the highest level of cosmetic surgery that demands specific milestones.
The first milestone requires circumferential body contouring akin to sculpting a statue in 360 degrees. Circumferential body contouring ensures contour improvements are appreciated from all viewed angles. The second milestone requires detailed etching of fat and soft tissues to unveil muscle highlights, and natural shadows coined Hi-Def liposuction. This detail in sculpting manifests in not only a dramatic but also a realistic rendition of your improved contour aesthetics. This milestone requires attention to all tissue planes that include not only the fat but also the muscles and overlying skin.
Table of Contents
ToggleThe final milestone demands remaining true to gender-specific aesthetics. For example, high definition body contouring surgeons strive to achieve gentle curves in their contour outlines with smooth transitions for their female clients. A convex and rounded buttock and a concave, narrowed waistline are paramount to creating the hourglass female silhouette. In contrast, men should possess sharp transitions predicated on a lean lower back and flank contour juxtaposing against a squared-off, upper lateral buttock prominence. Eliminating the love handle fullness creates a shelf for men to hang their jeans over.
High definition body contouring in cosmetic surgery spans all body parts, including the breast, abdomen, back, buttocks, and even the limbs. Remember that to achieve high definition results, the human body has to be approached holistically as if it is a glorified statue. This means addressing all concern areas circumferentially, creating muscle highlights and natural shadows, and remaining true to gender-specific aesthetic guidelines. The differences between an inanimate statue and the human body are innumerable and not exclusive to the fact that the human body is:
- Multilayered and includes a protective skin cover and underlying soft tissues
- Composed of soft tissues that contain fat, connective tissues, vessels, and nerves
- A moving organism that has both static and dynamic, i.e., fluid, contour outlines
To create a human sculpture masterpiece, it is necessary to contour not only the outer skin layer but also the soft tissues and, infrequently, the deepest muscle layer. Meanwhile, it is critical to work around and preserve vital structures, including the vessels and nerves that traverse the soft tissues. High definition body contouring is truly an undertaking of huge proportions. Skin reduction surgery considerations are the first step and encompass surgeries developed in the abdomen, breast, back, buttock, and even the limbs. The next consideration is the removal of excess soft tissue fullness with Hi-Def liposuction or the addition of volume with fat transfer or even a prosthesis. Finally, all of these maneuvers must be performed circumferentially and are thus inclusive of the following surgical maneuvers:
| Breast Surgeries | Abdominal Surgeries | Back Surgeries | Buttock Surgeries | Limb Surgeries |
| Breast Augmentation | Full tummy tuck | Upper body lift | Buttock Augmentation | Brachioplasty |
| with Implants | with muscle repair | Lower body lift | with fat transfer | Medial thigh tuck |
| with fat transfer | no muscle repair | Lateral thigh tuck | with buttock implants | Renuvion J Plasma |
| Breast Augmentation Revision | Reverse Tummy Tuck | Renuvion J Plasma | Buttock Reshaping | Hi-Def Liposuction |
| Breast Lift | Mini Tummy Tuck | Hi-Def Liposuction | Buttock Tuck | |
| Breast Implant Exchange | Hi Def Liposuction |
High definition (HD) body contouring has been coined to identify body contours that are “jaw-dropping”. “Jaw-dropping” results are appreciated when contour lines are transformed radically with the ultimate goal of achieving a near PERFECT 9 or 10 body. HD body contouring is considered a “Game Changer” in body sculpting since it allows your surgeon to precisely sculpt your body to previously unattainable results. A final consideration of achieving high definition contouring results is recommending and implementing an Appropriate Surgical Plan. There is an old idiom that you can perfectly perform a flawless surgery, but the outcome may not be ideal if the chosen surgery is not the most appropriate surgical plan. To design a sound surgical plan, you must first implement an accurate assessment of your patient's needs. As such, strategic surgery planning depends on proper patient selection. High definition body contouring strives to achieve a near PERFECT 9 or 10 body. For your surgeon to achieve superior outcomes, he or she must acknowledge the importance of appropriate patient selection. Patient selection is dictated by the degree of excess soft tissue and fat, amount of skin redundancy, and compromised quality and extent of skin texture. These assessments made in a 360-degree fashion, along with consideration of your specific concern areas, are fused into your ultimate customized individual surgical design and plan.
HD Body Contouring
High definition (HD) body contouring has been coined to identify body contours that are “jaw-dropping”. “Jaw-dropping” results are appreciated when contour lines are transformed radically with the ultimate goal of achieving a near PERFECT 9 or 10 body. HD body contouring is considered a “Game Changer” in body sculpting since it allows your surgeon to precisely sculpt your body to previously unattainable results. A final consideration of achieving high definition contouring results is recommending and implementing an Appropriate Surgical Plan. There is an old idiom that you can perfectly perform a flawless surgery, but the outcome may not be ideal if the chosen surgery is not the most appropriate surgical plan. To design a sound surgical plan, you must first implement an accurate assessment of your patient's needs. As such, strategic surgery planning depends on proper patient selection. High definition body contouring strives to achieve a near PERFECT 9 or 10 body. For your surgeon to achieve superior outcomes, he or she must acknowledge the importance of appropriate patient selection. Patient selection is dictated by the degree of excess soft tissue and fat, amount of skin redundancy, and compromised quality and extent of skin texture. These assessments made in a 360-degree fashion, along with consideration of your specific concern areas, are fused into your ultimate customized individual surgical design and plan.
Breast Surgery
Breast surgery is an integral component of surgical body contouring. The aesthetic goals of breast surgery are to ensure that breasts possess optimally shaped and sized mounds. In addition, the breast mounds should be ideally positioned on the chest rather than leaning on the upper belly. Finally, the nipple and areola should be shaped symmetrically and positioned appropriately at the center of your breast mounds. Although there are various breast surgery guidelines, patients ultimately choose their desired breast surgery goals and surgical design. Breast surgery can involve augmentation with fat transfer or placement of an implant. in contrast, breasts may be made smaller with a breast reduction or just lifted with a breast lift. In certain situations, the breasts may be lifted and enlarged using a breast lift and implant augmentation. Finally, compromised breast shape may need revision, such as a breast augmentation revision, implant exchange, or even implant removal.
Abdominal Surgery
Various abdominal surgeries have been designed to address suboptimal shaping of the abdominal muscles, soft tissue fullness, and skin redundancy and texture changes. Abdominal surgeries may include a mini tuck to remove redundant skin that is limited to below the belly button or a reverse tummy tuck for redundant skin that is isolated above the belly button. Neither of these surgeries can effectively tighten moderate to extensive abdominal muscle weakness. Both of these surgeries are frequent in patients who have already undergone a full tummy tuck with muscle repair but have observed a recurrence of skin redundancies of possessing poorly positioned or healed incision lines. The full tummy tuck is the most popular abdominal surgery. It includes maximum removal of skin redundancy and elimination of all skin texture changes along the region below the belly button. In addition, the full tummy tuck allows for the repair of moderate to extensive muscle diastasis when present. The main disadvantage of full tummy tucks is that they forbid fat reduction treatment of the abdominal flap using liposuction. Finally, patients may benefit from a proprietary abdominal surgery called the modified abdominal skin resection, which allows for near-maximal elimination of skin redundancy while allowing for high-definition abdominal liposuction. The goals of body contouring treatments of the abdomen include improving the body habitus by improving contour outlines and the female silhouette.
Back Surgery
Back surgery aims to improve the upper, middle, and lower back and flank contours. The back has definite gender-specific differences that include: a)the creation of a lean and elongated upper, middle, and lower back that transitions smoothly through the flanks to a rounder and fuller buttock region in females, and b)the creation of a "V" shaped back that includes a generously sized upper and middle back that contrasts with a sharply tapered lower back and flank region in males. These aesthetic goals are achieved with a combination of fat reduction procedures using VASER liposuction and skin reduction surgeries. Minimally redundant skin can be accommodated with VASER alone. Skin that is minimal to moderately redundant may be tightened with Renuvion J Plasma technology. Finally, moderate to severely redundant skin may require skin excision surgery. The upper back skin can be tighter with an upper back lift and the lower back with a lower body lift or lateral thigh tuck.
Buttock Surgery
Buttock surgery goals include creating the buttock shape and size desired by each individual's preferences. To meet each patient's desires, the Buttock Enhancement Tool has been created and routinely used at SurgiSculpt to help prospective patients communicate their desired buttock goals. Buttock surgeries include buttock augmentation using either an implant or fat transfer, depending on specific patient goals and limitations. Another group of patients includes those who have experienced weight loss and observed deflation and sagging of their buttocks. In these patients, the transfer of adipose cells and lifting the buttock cheek skin must be implemented using a buttock tuck. A buttock tuck will not only lift a sagging buttock cheek but also significantly reduce the appearance of cellulite.
Limb Surgery
Limb surgeries are designed to remove both excess fats but also skin redundancy. Fat excess is removed using VASER liposuction. When minimal skin redundancy is present, VASER liposuction alone will accommodate skin redundancy. Renuvion J plasma technology can accommodate skin redundancy when minimal to moderate skin redundancy is present. When moderate to severe skin redundancy is then, either a medial thigh lift of the inner legs or a Brachioplasty of the upper arms can be implemented.
High Definition Liposuction
High definition liposuction is a more advanced liposuction modality that uses ultrasound-assisted liposuction to emulsify and remove your fat more comprehensively, selectively, and circumferentially. Circumferential liposuction has been coined 360 lipo, and it has several advantages that include a) the ability to transform your body as if it is a stature; b)mobilize your soft tissues so that they will optimally redrape up to your muscles; c)remain true to gender-specific aesthetic guidelines.
Traditional liposuction is limited to the removal of deep fat only. In contrast, ultrasound-assisted liposuction emulsification of fat removes both deep and superficial fat; comprehensive and uniform removal of fat results in more dramatic contouring of your body with visible hints of the underlying muscles. Creating muscle highlights and natural shadows is feasible using selective fat cells.
In addition, fat emulsification allows for less blood loss and more comfort by protecting vessels and sensory nerves from unnecessary trauma. Another advantage of ultrasound-assisted liposuction is that the residual remaining fat can settle evenly since it is liquefied and avoid irregularities common to traditional liposuction, which is limited to removing solid clusters of fat cells. A final advantage of ultrasound-assisted liposuction is the ability to maximize fat viability following fat cell transfer, such as in a Brazilian Butt Lift or Natural Breast Augmentation, since the fat cells are transferred as single cell transfers rather than solid clumps of fat cell clusters.
A final benefit of high definition liposuction is the supplement of excess skin elimination. Renuvion technology or excisional surgery eliminates skin redundancy and ensures high definition body contouring results. High definition body contouring is predicated on creating superior body contours like an artist sculpting a statue. To achieve high definition body contouring results, loose skin must be addressed, such as over the outer thighs, inner legs, abdomen, or upper and lower back. Renuvion technology is a proprietary procedure that involves minimally invasive thermal shortening of collagen molecules in and under the skin and is utilized when excess skin is moderate in severity. Excisional surgery is more invasive, requires skin cutting, and is reserved for patients with severe skin redundancy.
Mommy Makeover
A mommy makeover is a sought-after procedure post-pregnancy that targets a combination of body treatments. The goal of a mommy makeover is to restore the tone and overall appearance of a woman's pre-pregnancy body. This strategic combination of body contouring procedures is custom-tailored to fit the unique needs of each mom.
Mommy Makeover surgeries refer to comprehensive breast, abdomen, back, buttocks, and thigh contouring intended to reverse all of the pregnancy-induced changes. Tummy tuck surgery specifically addresses body contouring concerns of the abdomen. Abdominal muscle thinning and stretching, as well as redundant lower abdominal skin, can be corrected following tummy tuck surgery.
A mini tummy tuck is a less invasive tummy tuck alternative that allows for the elimination of minimal to moderate skin redundancy and a quicker recovery.
Buttocks Enhancement
Buttocks enhancement requests have peaked recently, with Brazilian buttock lift (BBL) now one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries. Buttock augmentation is a procedure that aims to enhance the contour, tone, size, and shape of the buttocks. Enhancement can be achieved through buttocks fat grafting (BBL), buttock implant augmentation, and/or buttock lift. Fat grafting involves the transfer of harvested fat from other body parts into the superficial buttocks tissue layers. In contrast, buttocks implants are surgically placed in the deeper tissues inside the gluteus maximus muscle. Interestingly, simultaneous fat grafting and buttocks implant augmentation can be performed when the maximal increase in size is desired. Finally, a buttock lift can be considered, which lifts the buttocks and lateral thighs when extensive drooping is observed that cannot be corrected with buttocks augmentation alone.
Tummy Tuck
A tummy tuck, also called an abdominoplasty, is a body sculpting surgery that focuses on removing excess fat and redundant skin from your abdomen. The traditional tummy tuck surgery additionally allows for the tightening of the underlying abdominal muscles like a brassiere which allows for the maximal narrowing of the torso. Tightening of the abdominal muscles that have stretched out, thinned out, or if the muscles have ripped, called a ventral hernia.
Mini Tummy Tuck
A modified version of the traditional abdominoplasty, a mini tummy tuck removes redundant skin limited to the lower abdominal and supra-pubic region. This surgery is less invasive than the traditional tummy tuck allowing for quicker recovery periods and comprehensive rather than selective removal of fat from the entire abdomen using liposuction.
Post-Bariatric Surgery
Obese patients who undergo bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass or a gastric sleeve procedure, will typically be left with severe skin redundancy deformities following extensive weight loss. Although patients universally improve their health and overall smaller body size, they do not fully appreciate their transformation secondary to unappealing skin rolls and contour deformities arising from skin redundancy.
Post-Bariatric Surgery is dedicated to eliminating all skin contour deformities using specialized body lifting and tucking procedures. These surgeries include the arm lift, breast lift, tummy tuck, buttock lift, lateral thigh lift, upper body lift, medial thigh tuck, lower body lift, and/or a combination of the surgeries above called the Total Body Lift.
Fat Grafting
Fat grafting, also known as autologous fat transfer, is the transfer of fat from one part of the body (usually the abdomen, back, and thighs) to another (usually the face, breast, and buttocks). Fat is harvested using liposuction, and the fat aspirate is then processed and strategically transferred back to the body while maintaining complete sterility. This procedure has gained popularity as a safe and natural alternative to augmentation options using artificial fillers and or foreign elements such as implants.
Gender Confirmation Surgery
Gender Confirmation Surgery, also known as Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) is a surgical procedure by which a person's physical gender appearance can be changed to align with their identified gender preference.
For feminization, this procedure includes but is not limited to vaginoplasty, feminizing augmentation mammoplasty, orchiectomy, facial feminization surgery, reduction thyrochondroplasty (tracheal shave), abdominal, buttock, and hip confirmation contouring. Creating exaggerated curves by coring out the waistline and building the hips is a very popular procedure.
For masculinization, this procedure includes but is not limited to: chest masculinization surgery, metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, scrotoplasty, hysterectomy, abdominal etching, or buttock and back confirmation surgery.
Male Abdominal Etching
Male Abdominal Etching is a cosmetic procedure that enhances the definition of the abdominal muscles by removing excess fat through ultrasound-assisted high definition liposuction. This procedure uses high definition liposuction protocols to create more defined abdominal muscles, often called a six-pack.
Each one of these surgeries is intended to correct a specific body deformity or region of concern. Liposuction is intended to provide comprehensive and uniform fat removal from all areas of prominence.
High definition liposuction is reserved for patients who can achieve near-perfect 9 or 10 body contouring outcomes and requires comprehensive contouring surgical designs and implementation using ultrasound-assisted Vaser liposuction.
Post-Bariatric surgery comprises a variety of modified traditional surgeries to meet the required removal of severe skin redundancy in patients that have lost 100 to 200 pounds.
Finally, body contouring can improve male abdominal and chest appearance and assist in gender confirmation or reassignment surgery of the breasts and abdomen.
What’s Next
If you are interested in having body contouring surgery, we encourage you to consult with SurgiSculpt®. You will be provided with a thorough physical examination and have the opportunity to discuss your goals with us.
You will leave your appointment with a customized, comprehensive surgical plan and surgical cost estimate.
Body Contouring Frequently Asked Questions:
Preparation for before/after vaser lipo?
First and foremost, you will be given adequate consult time to discuss pre-operative and post-operative expectations/preparations so your surgery day goes as smoothly as possible.
We have a complete Perfect Change Program that guides you following your initial consultation. From a basic standpoint, EKG, CBC, BMP, and perhaps a chest X-ray are pre-op requirements, as well as abstaining from any form of blood thinners, both prescribed and dietary (omega-3s). Post-operative planning should keep your medical history, living situation, and the extent of help you get to and from follow-up appointments.
Lumpy and wrinkled abdomen skin after vaser lipo. What can be done to help get some what my body back?
What happened is that your surgeon did not consider skin redundancy following too much fat removal; your abdomen can be corrected with tightening of your skin and/or a small excision of your skin.
As an official Vaser training center, we perform revision contouring weekly and appreciate your concern about skin irregularity, but I can assure you that this can be fixed.
Is the compression foam needed after surgery?
Yes, it would be best if you had been discharged with a customized foam inlay to compress the remaining fat so it could evenly settle.
Body Contouring Patient-Specific Questions:
I’ve lost some weight and there is minimal loose skin on my stomach. Am I a good candidate for a tummy tuck?
Your tummy could benefit from a mini tummy tuck only. This will ensure a quick recovery of approximately ten days getting back to your normal routine. The additional benefit of having a mini tummy tuck is that you could have abdominal etching with VASER liposuction if you want to have waistline narrowing or abdominal etching.
What procedure will work for me after 6 children, 2 c-sections and muscle separation? Will I need a full TT?
You will make a candidate for a full Mommy Makeover. The procedures are specifically designed to correct the wear and tear of multiple pregnancies, including issues with muscle separation
Is Vaser Lipo or Smart Lipo better at achieving a naturally thinner look for arms if I’m completely against an arm lift?
Vaser liposuction is the gold standard in body contouring. Its ability to reach both the superficial and the deep layer of fat allows a trained surgeon to maximize body contouring results. When using Vaser on the arms, you can also use Renuvion JPlasma skin tightening to avoid ugly incision lines and see results with smooth and tight skin following lipo.
HOW OUR PATIENTS FEEL ABOUT US:
Amazing
I have recently had a lateral tuck with and couldn't be happier! Recovery has been smooth with no problems. I would recommend SurgiSculpt to anyone looking for a cosmetic plastic surgeon, they are incredible!
A Body Lift That I Cannot Be Happier with
I am very pleased with the results of my surgeries and I love my new body. Thank you, James, and the whole team for the time and care throughout my process. I have you all to thank.
Amazing Experience
Just completed my 6 week follow-up. Extremely appreciative of your kind and professional staff and couldn't be happier with my results. The staff was available to me every step of the way and my thanks to the doctor for his mastery in the sculpting of my new figure.