Weight loss can bring relief across the board: freedom to move, reduced pain, more energy, improved sleep and body confidence. However, not every body following weight loss fits the mould we envisioned. Excess skin can also bring additional problems including rashes and chafing, mobility limitations and neck and back pain from additional sagging. Fortunately, body contouring plastic surgery steps in to reshape, tighten and enhance.
Da Vinci Plastic Surgery Clinic’s cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgeons specialise in body contouring procedures body-wide. From the hips, thighs and tummy, to the breasts, arms and face. During surgery excess skin is removed and the area contoured – with underlying muscles tightened in some instances – to fit the smaller body package.
‘Body contouring’ actually includes a wide range of cosmetic treatments – including liposuction, abdominoplasty, and non-invasive procedures such as CoolSculpting and Renuvion (for skin tightening). Before committing to a body contouring procedure, a key starting point to consider is if you are close to your ideal weight. Liposuction and non-surgical procedures such as CoolSculpting are typically suited to those that are as close to their ideal weight as possible. Do you have sagging muscles or loose skin in the mid-region? Abdominoplasty corrects separation of muscles and stretched skin. Do you have time to recover? Surgical treatments like liposuction and abdominoplasty require downtime, non-surgical treatments like CoolSculpting or Renuvion often require little – or no downtime for recovery.
So how does body contouring play out in the arm and breast department? For sagging upper arm skin – or batwings as they are often called, excess skin is excised to create a more toned, defined and sculpted look, with incisions made on the underside of the back upper arm.
For sagging, deflated, lopsided or flattened breasts – be it from weight loss or post-childbirth – a breast lift reshapes the contour of the breasts, tightens tissues and elevates the breasts on the chest wall. Any asymmetries – including nipple repositioning and resizing the areola – are also performed as part of the procedure.
Ranking as one of the world’s top five cosmetic procedures, abdominoplasty remains a staple on the plastic surgery chart. You may have excess skin in the tummy region or separated tummy muscles – or both. Either way, you may be a good candidate for a panniculectomy or abdominoplasty. If you have skin hanging from the lower abdomen – like an apron – that rubs, causes friction of the skin and aesthetically looks unsightly, you might be a good candidate for panniculectomy. This surgery involves directly excising the excess skin that hangs below the belly. If you are experiencing a separation of abdomen muscles, and also have excess skin and fatty tissues, abdominoplasty is for you. Surgery focuses on the whole abdomen region to excise skin and tighten underlying muscles.
For fat removal and muscle and skin tightening, abdominoplasty and liposuction remain a popular body contouring duo for good reason. The surgical pair address issues like excess skin and repair stretched muscles, gifting greater body freedom. And, no saggy skin means reduced risk of infection.
Whilst liposuction effectively targets pockets of stubborn fat body-wide, it doesn’t always address sagging skin. Renuvion, a unique minimally invasive heating and cooling technology delivers dual radio frequency and helium plasma, complimenting liposuction in key body areas by tightening and shrinking the skin tissues from within. Surgeons make small, strategic incisions under the skin and remove the excess fat, the Renuvion wand is then inserted through the same incisions to deliver the energy-based treatment. The treatment contracts the skin tissues from within to tighten the lax skin. You’ll notice an immediate difference, with results continuing to unfold across a few months and up to a year.
Whatever your body focus, an individual approach, matched with a qualified pair of hands, is always in season.
