Body Contouring: What are Your Options?

If you’ve been navigating your weight loss journey for some time now but are still seeing excess skin and stubborn pockets of fat, you may want to consider your body contouring options.

Excess skin and fatty tissue can stay behind when someone loses a significant amount of weight, particularly in areas such as the thighs, upper arms and abdomen.

Fortunately, there are a wide array of body contouring options available that can help remove the excess fat and skin, while smoothing out and tightening the areas that aren’t budging with diet and exercise.

Not every procedure is best suited to everyone though, so it helps to know exactly what your options are.

Top 3 Body Contouring Options

Here are the top body contouring options that you can use to reshape stubborn areas of your body.

Tummy Tuck

While a tummy tuck is an invasive surgery, you will see exceptional results, especially if you choose the right surgeon. This procedure reshapes your abdominal area by removing excess skin and fat from the lower or the entire abdomen.

The surgery does require a general anaesthetic and after the incision is made your surgeon will use liposuction to get rid of stubborn fatty tissue. After this, excess skin will be removed and the incision will be closed using sutures, leaving you with a smooth, tight stomach.

The ideal candidates for a tummy tuck have:

• A protruding abdomen
• Excess skin following pregnancy or weight loss
• Stubborn fatty pockets that diet and exercise are not getting rid of
• Stretch marks on the lower stomach area

If you would like to see for yourself the difference that a tummy tuck can make, refer to these tummy tuck before and after images.

Body Lift

If you want to focus on more than just your abdomen, a body lift will address the entire lower half of your body, including your thighs, hips, buttocks and stomach. Body lifts can be tailored to meet your specific aesthetic goals so there’s no need for your surgeon to work on all of these areas if it’s not necessary.

The ideal candidates for a body lift have:

• Stubborn fatty pockets that diet and exercise are not getting rid of
• Excess skin that isn’t aesthetically appealing and uncomfortable
• Trouble with their body image
• An inability to wear the clothes they really want to wear

Liposuction

While tummy tucks and body lifts focus on excess skin and fat, liposuction only targets stubborn fat pockets on almost any area of the body. Liposuction requires smaller incisions and offers a faster recovery time than the first two procedures.

The ideal candidates for liposuction have:

• Reached their ideal weight but are unable to get rid of stubborn pockets of fat
• Ill-fitting clothing due to excess fatty tissue
• Dissatisfaction with the shape of their bodies

If you are still unsure about which of these procedures are right for you, it’s best to consult with a qualified plastic surgeon who can evaluate your specific situation.