Getting that perfect body shape with a tapered waist is most people’s dream. People sweat it out at gyms, restrict themselves from indulging in fast food, and even go for strict diet regimes to get that perfect summer body. Numerous hours spent in the gym might make you frustrated when you do not get any significant results. That is why most people try reducing their body fat through body shaping or body contouring surgery. People get curious about these surgeries as they are effective in destroying the stubborn fat cells in your body easily.
You can target the fat deposited in the stubborn areas of your body and selectively get rid of it. This is known as body contouring treatment. Body contouring treatments work by either freezing fat cells or by simply using heat through radiofrequency energy to melt the stored fat. But are body contouring treatments safe? Are the results durable? What are the chances of getting fat again?
These are some of the questions we would be discussing in this article.
Are body contouring treatment and nonsurgical body sculpting procedures safe?
As body contouring treatment is a non-invasive treatment, there are only mild side effects, and most of these treatments have zero downtime. Despite all this, it is advised that you must get in touch with a physician or a medical practitioner and a nutritionist before you decide to go for a body contouring treatment.
Body sculpting treatments permanently destroy fat cells and boost the metabolism of the body. So they are safe to an extent. It works best for people who have a normal BMI.
Based on the working principle of body contouring treatments and liposuction you might be able to draw several touchdowns where both the treatments may look similar. However, there are a few differences between both targeted fat loss procedures.
Let us see how these two procedures are different from each other.
Liposuction vs body sculpting treatments
Both liposuction and body sculpting procedures are used for fat loss. The differentiating factor between the two processes is the amount of fat you want to lose. For people who are extremely obese or want to reduce a massive amount of fat from a selected part of their body, liposuction is the best solution. Liposuction can give you 10 times better results than body contouring treatments.
Noninvasive treatments on the other hand would not be as effective as liposuction. Plastic surgeons advise going for body sculpting treatments only if you want to get rid of some stubborn fat that is impossible or too strenuous to lose with normal fat burners and exercise. Hence, the factor of having a normal BMI is a prerequisite in most cases of body sculpting. It is also possible that after a massive weight loss or a liposuction procedure your doctor would advise you for a body sculpting treatment session. This is to ensure that you can get in your desired body shape quickly.
So, how do the noninvasive body contouring treatments work?
There are several methods of body sculpting. Whatever method you choose they all have the same function; to target the fat cells and destroy them. Your body would then excrete the destroyed fat over time. This process usually takes three to four months depending on the amount of fat you have to destroy.
Here are some of the body sculpting techniques:
- Cold treatments – this technique uses colder temperatures that will cause the fat cells to die out but the temperatures will not damage your skin. A suction device pulls the portion of your body from where you want the fat to be reduced. Then this portion is cooled for a fixed amount of time. During this period the fat cells get destroyed as they can not survive the chilling temperatures set in the suction device. This technique is very effective for body parts like the abdomen, chin, arms, and thighs. This procedure is safe for the patients except for the ones who have weak resistance to cool temperatures. People with Raynaud’s syndrome must not opt for this fat destroying technique.
- Heat treatments – heat treatments are well known among most patients. These treatments use laser energy to destroy the fat cells underneath your skin. The application of this technique is done through a flat device and thus it is not suitable for curvy areas such as love handles.
- Ultrasound energy – this treatment uses ultrasound to melt the fat stores in your body. This treatment is very intensive and takes the most time out of all body sculpting treatments. A typical session of ultrasound energy treatment may last up to 1 hour. The device is used to create mechanical vibration and this vibration breaks down the fat cells. This process is best suited for the abdomen area.
- Radiofrequency energy – radiofrequency treatment technique delivers energy to your cells. This energy further creates heat to destroy the targeted fat cells in your body. This process uses the water stored in your fat cells. So make sure that you are well hydrated before the procedure. This procedure has zero downtime.
Body sculpting works on these basic techniques. Before going for body sculpting processes, understand the differences between liposuction and body sculpting clearly. This will help you to understand if body sculpting aligns with your goals or not.
