Is Body Contouring Safe?

If spending hours in the gym and closely monitoring your diet haven’t produced the results you hoped for, you may be considering body contouring.

While many body contouring treatments are able to target and eliminate stubborn fat without surgery or downtime, they are not 100 percent risk-free.

As such, it’s understandable that people frequently ask – Is body contouring safe? – before making the decision to undergo treatment.

Continue reading to learn all about body contouring’s excellent safety profile and several treatment options to consider.

Is Body Contouring Safe?

Although it’s an effective nonsurgical alternative to liposuction, patients often want to know: Is body contouring safe?

To start, noninvasive body contouring treatments, such as CoolSculpting, avoid incisions, anesthesia, cutting, and sutures.

Accordingly, they don’t pose a risk for anesthesia complications and post-operative infections and are much safer than a surgical procedure like liposuction.

Additionally, body contouring technologies must undergo rigorous testing to receive approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

CoolSculpting first received FDA-approval in 2010 and is among the most-studied body contouring treatments available.

Finally, due to its non-invasive nature, body contouring side effects are usually mild and temporary. They may include redness, swelling, tenderness, bruising, numbness, and soreness.

These issues typically resolve on their own in a matter of days to weeks, without disruption to the patient’s daily routine.

What Are the Different Types of Body Contouring?

In addition to wondering – Is body contouring safe? – many people are curious about their treatment options.

CoolSculpting is the most popular non-invasive body contouring treatment and delivers controlled cooling to target and destroy pinchable fat. It uses curved applicators and can sculpt virtually any part of the body.

SculpSure is a heat-based body contouring procedure and applies laser energy to stubborn fat cells. In doing so, it damages the structure of fat cells and causes them to die.

SculpSure applicators are flat and not ideal for fat bulges or curved parts of the body.

High-intensity focused ultrasound can also be utilized to breakdown fat. UltraShape employs a handheld device that heats fat cells within the abdomen. Each treatment takes approximately 1 hour.

Radiofrequency body contouring treatments including truSculpt and Vanquish. These modalities are attracted to water and use radiofrequency to heat and destroy subcutaneous fat cells.

Get Started with CoolSculpting Body Contouring

If you are considering body contouring, please call our office today to schedule a comprehensive consultation with board-certified dermatologist Dr. Eliot Battle or board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Kelly Bolden.