Body Contouring

Firm up sagging skin and lax tissue with body-contouring procedures offered by Peter Ashjian, MD, at his self-named practice Peter H. Ashjian, MD, in Sherman Oaks and Glendale, California. Body contouring improves the shape and tone of your underlying tissue and removes excess fat and skin. To learn more about how you can achieve a firm and youthful physique with body contouring, call the office or schedule an appointment online.

What is body contouring?

Surgical body contouring helps reform your physique when aging or major weight loss has led to sagging, drooping skin that keeps your body from looking toned and firm. 

During a body contouring (body lift) procedure, Dr. Ashjian removes excess sagging skin and fat while improving the shape and tone of the underlying tissue that supports a firm-looking body. An added benefit is that the procedure can also enhance irregularities and dimpling on the skin surface.

Dr. Ashjian may use liposuction in addition to or instead of a body lift. Liposuction is a surgical procedure that sucks excess fat deposits from areas such as your abdomen, thighs, hips, back, and upper arms. 

While liposuction can’t provide comprehensive weight loss, it is exceptionally effective at slimming and reshaping stubborn diet-resistant pockets of fat. Liposuction is useful in slimming areas with unwanted fat and can be used as part of a fat transfer to reform areas that shrink or appear hollow. 

Dr. Ashjian can remove fat from a place you don’t want it – such as your belly – and transfer it to an area that could use filling in – such as your buttocks or breasts. You get a reshaped, contoured physique that looks and feels natural. 

Who benefits from body contouring?

Anyone with significant soft tissue looseness in one or more areas may choose body contouring. As you get older, your body tissue starts to lose elasticity. 

Certain factors expedite this loss, including:

• Sun damage
• Pregnancy
• Significant changes in weight
• Genetic factors
  

Body contouring is not designed for comprehensive weight loss, however. You should be near your normal weight so the procedure can tighten and show off your more toned frame. 

Treatments like liposuction are best for areas that just won’t slim down, no matter how much time you dedicate to diet and exercise.

Before undergoing a body-contouring procedure, you’ll have a comprehensive health exam to ensure you have no medical conditions that interfere with healing. You should quit smoking before surgery, too, as smoking impairs the healing process.

What areas can be treated with body contouring?

Several areas that typically carry excess fat and drooping skin can be treated, including the:

• Buttocks
• Inner and outer thighs
• Posterior thighs
• Abdominal area
• Love handles
  

A body lift combined with liposuction is sometimes your best option. Liposuction can remove fatty deposits from stubborn areas but sometimes leaves sagging skin. Body contouring tightens the skin, so you enjoy the effects of your procedure.

How long do the effects of body contouring last?

Body contouring permanently removes excess skin and fat, but if you happen to gain a lot of weight in the future, your results may be affected. If you commit to a healthy diet and exercise, you will maximize your body-contouring results for the long term.

Body contouring does not make existing skin immune to the further effects of aging. Remember that some loss of skin elasticity will inevitably continue to occur as you age.

If you’re ready to firm up loose skin and enjoy your body again, call Dr. Ashjian to set up a consultation or use the online tool to arrange an appointment.