The passing years and significant life events can all take a toll on the body, often leaving stubborn fat deposits and sagging skin behind. Where summertime was once officially designated as bikini season, now the season might involve adding cover-ups over your bathing suit to hide unwanted features. A wide variety of different body contouring options offer you ways to sculpt your body back into a shape you can flaunt.
Dr. Jane Weston offers a full menu of body contouring options to address any body areas that may need a refresh. Whether you’re just coming off a pregnancy, lost a lot of weight or want certain areas tightened and shaped, Dr. Weston can design a treatment regimen that meets your expectations.
How Does Body Contouring Work?
Body contouring procedures encompass a group of treatments that are designed to sculpt the body and enhance its natural features. For some people, this means restoring a more youthful figure. For others, trimming away excess weight and tightening sagging skin are the target areas for improvement.
A few of the most popular body contouring options include:
Your choice between options depends on the areas of the body you’d like to see enhanced. While some options focus on specific parts of the body, others take a more varied approach, allowing you to improve two or more areas at the same time. Dr. Weston has ample experience in performing both non-invasive and surgical body contouring procedures. Sitting down to discuss your goals and expectations at the outset is a central part of Dr. Weston’s treatment approach.
Body Contouring Options
CoolSculpting
CoolSculpting is one of the newest body contouring options on the market. It’s a noninvasive procedure that freezes fat cells. CoolSculpting works exceptionally well in cases where no amount of diet or exercising will remove those last few pockets of stubborn fat deposits.
This procedure freezes and destroys the fat cells. From there, the body eliminates the dead cell materials over the following three to four weeks. Using cryolipolysis technology, fat cells can be frozen without harming the surrounding tissue. Since fat freezes at higher temperatures than skin and muscle, CoolSculpting can target fat cells in any specified area. Treatment applications for CoolSculpting include:
- Abdomen, including love handles or rolls along the front
- Chin
- Arms
- Breast
- Buttocks
- Back
- Thighs
CoolSculpting is a noninvasive procedure so that you can return to your normal daily activities with no downtime. The treatment allows you to pick and choose the areas of fat to target and uses a technology that doesn’t require surgery of any kind. Also, since the adult body generally has a finite number of fat cells, once those are treated by CoolSculpting, they are eliminated and gone for good.
Liposuction
Liposuction, one of the most often performed procedures to date, involves breaking up fatty tissue and sucking it from the body. The procedure uses a tubular instrument called a cannula, that’s inserted beneath the skin. Using an integrated vacuum, fat is suctioned through the cannula and out of the body. The degree of precision and ability to accurately sculpt the desired contours are much greater with liposuction. Liposuction is a good body contouring option for removing excess weight from the following areas: Backs of the arms Calves Back Abdomen Thighs and buttocks Neck Chin Since liposuction is a surgical procedure, recovery times run longer than with CoolSculpting. You can return to work and everyday activities, within a week. However, swelling and bruising may persist for some time longer. Dr. Weston may also advise you to wear compression garments for a few weeks to help reduce the swelling. Overall, the more extensive the liposuction procedure, the longer the recovery time.
Mommy Makeover
Whether it’s your first or fifth child, pregnancy, giving birth and breastfeeding take a considerable toll on the body, affecting both form and function. A mommy makeover is designed to restore and rejuvenate the areas of the body most affected by child-bearing. In effect, it’s a combination of procedures where you can choose the enhancements you want.
While you can opt to get a breast lift or tummy tuck individually, the mommy makeover approach allows you to get everything taken care of at once, so you only have to undergo surgery one time. Likewise, there’s only one recovery period, which can lessen your overall downtime.
A mommy makeover includes two or more of the following enhancements:
- Eliminating stretch marks
- Removing loose abdominal skin, and repairing the abdominal muscles
- Removing fatty deposits that won’t go away with diet and exercise
- Enhancing the breasts, through augmentation, lift or reduction
Recovery time can vary depending on the number of areas you have done. In turn, Dr. Weston provides ongoing monitoring throughout your recovery time to ensure optimal results. Overall, a mommy makeover provides long-lasting results that restore your body to its pre-pregnancy contours.
Tummy Tuck
A tummy tuck procedure, also known as abdominoplasty, could be a body contouring option to consider if you’ve lost a substantial amount of weight or have recently given birth. For most people, considerable weight loss leaves behind stretched out skin around the abdomen that doesn’t go away. Post-pregnancy also tends to do the same. A tummy tuck removes this excess skin as well as any accumulated fatty tissue. During this procedure, if abdominal muscle repair is required, Dr. Weston will also be able to address it.
The surgical procedure will require a general anesthesia. Dr. Weston will make a horizontal incision just below the bikini line. The length of the incision will vary, with full tummy tucks requiring hip-to-hip incisions and mini tucks involving a slightly shorter one. The result is a slim-downed midsection to match your new look.
Recovery time tends to run considerably longer than other body contouring options, even when done as part of a mommy makeover. By the third or fourth week, you should be able to return to your normal daily routine. Dr. Weston makes it a point to walk you through all that’s involved with the procedure and recovery time, so you know what to expect every step of the way.
Choosing the Right Doctor
Choosing the right doctor ultimately determines the quality of results to expect with body contouring. Dr. Weston is a board-certified plastic surgeon with extensive experience in body contouring procedures. She performs both non-invasive and surgical procedures, offering tailor-made treatment plans that coincide with your particular goals and expectations. Call us today at 650-363-0300 to set up a one-on-one consultation for more information.