Body Contouring

What Body Contouring Examines First

Body contouring on this account is a 360-degree plan, not a single incision. The exam records excess fat, skin redundancy, and the quality of the skin texture. Those three findings, plus the areas the patient actually wants changed, become the surgical design. A flawless operation still misses when the chosen operation does not match that exam.

Skin laxity is recorded apart from extra fat. Mild laxity can retract after the fat is removed. Laxity that has become real redundancy is a tuck or an excision. That choice is part of body contouring, not a repair added after the fact.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons describes liposuction as suction removal of fat that has not responded to diet and exercise. In this body contouring plan, that step is paired with a tuck or a fat transfer only when the exam shows the skin or the volume needs it.

Three milestones define the high definition version of body contouring. The first is circumferential work, so the outline reads from the front, the side, and the back. The second is etching of fat so muscle highlights and natural shadows show, which means the fat plane, the muscle plane, and the skin all have to be considered. The third is gender. Women are planned toward gentle curves, a narrowed waist, and a convex buttock, the hourglass outline. Men are planned toward sharp transitions, a lean lower back and flank, and a squared upper lateral buttock so the love handle no longer sits over the jeans.

The body is not a statue. It is multilayered: a skin cover, soft tissue that holds fat, connective tissue, vessels, and nerves, and a shape that changes when the person moves. Vessels and nerves are preserved while the outer layer and the soft tissue are contoured. The muscle layer is altered only in the operations that are built for it. Fat can be removed with liposuction or added with fat transfer, and a prosthesis is the other way volume is added. Skin reduction is planned first when redundancy, not fat, is the deformity.

Breast, Abdomen, Back, Buttock, and Limb

Breast surgery in a body contouring plan sets mound shape and size, keeps the mound on the chest rather than resting on the upper belly, and centers the nipple and areola. Volume can be added with fat transfer or an implant. Volume can be reduced with a breast reduction, or the nipple can be raised with a breast lift. A lift and an implant are a combined operation. A compromised result can need a breast augmentation revision, an implant exchange, or implant removal. The patient chooses the goal. The exam decides which of those operations can reach it.

Abdominal operations follow where the skin and the muscle actually failed. A mini tuck removes redundant skin limited to below the belly button. A reverse tummy tuck is for redundant skin isolated above the belly button. Neither tightens moderate or extensive muscle weakness. Both are often used when a full tummy tuck with muscle repair has already been done and the skin or the scar has recurred. The full tummy tuck removes the skin redundancy and the texture changes below the belly button and can repair moderate to extensive diastasis. Its disadvantage on this account is that it forbids liposuction of the abdominal flap. A modified abdominal skin resection is the operation that removes near-maximal skin while still allowing high definition liposuction of the abdomen.

The back is planned by gender. Women are given a lean upper, middle, and lower back that passes through the flank into a rounder buttock. Men are given a V-shaped back, fuller above and sharply tapered through the lower back and flank. VASER liposuction removes the fat. Minimal redundancy can retract with VASER alone. Minimal to moderate redundancy can be tightened with Renuvion J Plasma. Moderate to severe redundancy is excised, with an upper back lift above and a lower body lift or lateral thigh tuck below.

Buttock shape and size are chosen with the Buttock Enhancement Tool, which is how patients point at the outline they want. Augmentation is an implant or fat transfer, depending on the goal and on how much fat can be harvested. After weight loss, a deflated and sagging buttock needs both adipose transfer and a buttock tuck. The tuck lifts the cheek and also reduces the look of cellulite. Fat grafting for the buttock goes into the superficial tissue layers. An implant is placed in the deeper tissues, inside the gluteus maximus. The two can be combined when the largest increase is the goal. A buttock lift is the choice when droop of the buttock and the lateral thigh will not correct with augmentation alone.

Limb fat is removed with VASER liposuction. Minimal skin redundancy can be left to that liposuction. Minimal to moderate redundancy can be treated with Renuvion J Plasma. Moderate to severe redundancy is a medial thigh lift on the inner leg or a brachioplasty on the upper arm.

Liposuction, a Tuck, and Fat Transfer

High definition liposuction is the ultrasound-assisted method that emulsifies fat so it can be removed comprehensively, selectively, and around the whole circumference. Circumferential liposuction is the 360 form. Traditional liposuction on this account is limited to deep fat. Ultrasound-assisted removal takes deep and superficial fat, so the muscle contour can show. Emulsified fat is also the reason given for less blood loss and for protecting vessels and sensory nerves. Liquefied residual fat can settle more evenly than solid clusters, which is the stated reason traditional liposuction leaves irregularities. The same single-cell transfer is the reason given for better fat viability when the fat is moved, as in a Brazilian butt lift or natural breast augmentation.

Loose skin still has to be removed or the contour will not hold. Renuvion is the minimally invasive heat treatment of collagen in and under the skin, used when excess skin is moderate. Excision is reserved for severe redundancy, including the outer thigh, inner leg, abdomen, and upper or lower back. Renuvion is not a substitute for an excision when the redundancy is severe.

A mommy makeover is body contouring aimed at pregnancy changes in the breast, abdomen, back, buttock, and thigh. The tummy tuck portion addresses muscle thinning and stretch, and redundant lower abdominal skin. A mini tummy tuck is the less extensive alternative when skin redundancy is only minimal to moderate, and the recovery is shorter.

Post-bariatric surgery is a different problem. After a gastric bypass or a gastric sleeve, patients who have lost a large amount of weight, on this account in the range of 100 to 200 pounds, are left with skin rolls. The operations named for that redundancy are an arm lift, breast lift, tummy tuck, buttock lift, lateral thigh lift, upper body lift, medial thigh tuck, lower body lift, and the combination called a total body lift.

Fat grafting, or autologous fat transfer, moves fat from the abdomen, back, or thighs to the face, breast, or buttock. The fat is harvested by liposuction, processed, and returned under sterile conditions. It is the alternative this account names to artificial fillers and to implants. Male abdominal etching uses the same ultrasound-assisted high definition liposuction to clear fat over the abdominal muscles so a six-pack outline can be read. It is reserved for patients whose exam supports a near 9 or 10 contour, and it still requires the circumferential VASER plan.

Gender confirmation surgery, also called sex reassignment surgery, changes physical appearance toward the identified gender. Feminization on this account can include vaginoplasty, feminizing augmentation mammoplasty, orchiectomy, facial feminization, a tracheal shave, and abdominal, buttock, and hip contouring. Coring the waist and building the hips is the contour step patients request most often. Masculinization can include chest masculinization, metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, scrotoplasty, hysterectomy, abdominal etching, and buttock and back contouring. Those names are the operations already used here. They are not a new staging calendar.

The fee for this work is listed on the high definition body sculpting cost page and is not restated as a dollar figure here.