What is the Difference between Weight Loss Surgery and Body Contouring?
If you are having trouble understanding the difference between weight loss surgery and body contouring, you are not alone. The medical terminology surrounding these procedure categories can be hazy, leading many patients to incorrectly believe that body contouring and weight loss surgery are one and the same.
The body contouring surgery is not a method of weight loss. It is an option to help patients improve their condition after a healthy weight is achieved.
Although both bariatric (weight loss) surgery and body contouring can ultimately improve appearance and increase self-confidence, they are very different types of procedures with very different objectives. This post helps you to understand these important differences so that you can choose the right path and the right surgeon for your requirements.
Operation by bariatric vs. Body contouring:
Key differences Bariatric surgery does not activate weight loss. Weight loss procedures, such as lap band and gastric sleeve or bypass surgery, limit the caloric intake of the patient by physically reducing the stomach's size. This can help a person lose pounds significantly overweight safely if he has difficulty controlling what he eats. In contrast, body contouring operation has no effect on appetite, digestion or metabolism and does not lead to weight loss beyond the weight of tissues removed during the procedure.
Operation with weight loss is medical; body contouring operation is primarily cosmetic. The weight loss surgery is not intended to improve your appearance directly; it is simply intended to reduce your appetite and help you lose weight. The primary objective of contouring the body is to achieve a more aesthetically pleasing appearance, not to improve or correct physical health.
The weight loss surgery cannot eliminate excess skin or improve the body's proportions, but it does. Many patients end up with excess, loose skin due to fast weight loss following bariatric weight loss surgery. Therefore, patients often choose to undergo weight loss surgery to remove excess skin and achieve a more aesthetically pleasing form.
Contouring the body is an option to help patients improve their form after a healthy weight is achieved:
Body contouring procedures improve the form of a patient but not the size or weight of the patient. Body contouring is a common next step for patients who have already lost a considerable amount of weight due to bariatric surgery or diet and exercise, as well as those who want to deal with the effects of pregnancy or aging. Common procedures for body contouring include:
(1) Tummy tucks surgery to tighten the stretched abdominal muscles and remove excess skin from the belly
(2) Liposuction, reduce isolated fat pockets and sculpt more esthetically pleasing proportions on different parts of the body
(3) Body lifting to remove access hanging skin
These options are intended to improve areas that do not respond well to exercise and diet. Patients with or close to their ideal weight enjoy the best results. This typically means that a patient is within five to ten pounds of the target weight. They are also considered elective because the body contouring procedures are esthetic (as opposed to medically necessary). Experienced plastic surgeons require patients to be healthy and stable for several months prior to surgery in order to ensure safety, optimize healing and maintain over time results.
Liposuction is removed from fat — so is liposuction helping me lose weight?
Liposuction removes fat cells, which are often mistakenly considered a way to lose weight without diet and exercise. However, even a relatively large amount of liposuction does not lead to a significant weight loss— in fact, the average patient loses less than 3 pounds after liposuction (1 to 2 pounds is more common). The same logic applies to non-surgical liposuction alternatives like Cool Sculpting; for general weight loss, no cosmetic fat reduction method is recommended.