Davis

What did you gift your significant other for Valentine’s Day: flowers, chocolates, a decadent dinner? How about plastic surgery?

A growing trend called “beauty matching” began to emerge a couple years back. It has two different interpretations. In the majority of instances, it refers to couples who book cosmetic procedures—fillers, Botox, CoolSculpting—together prior to a big event or simply to share the experience with each other.

When you think about it, beauty matching is not the stretch it may seem to be at first glance. Couples tend to be like-minded people who have similar priorities. Why wouldn’t that extend to how they go about improving their appearance?

Sometimes, a partner is inspired by the other’s rejuvenation and books their own version. As one person is learning about a given procedure, they’re likely also discussing it with their partner. A treatment then becomes a mutual exchange of ideas.

The other interpretation is more literal: couples who get procedures in tandem so that they can look like each other.

The benefits of beauty matching

Let’s be clear: Beauty matching needs to be a mutual decision to share the experience. Getting procedures with your partner is completely normal, even practical. Being able to offer your significant other emotional support during their recovery is a big advantage.

Having another perspective during the consultation is another plus. With so many ways to treat a given issue these days, having someone there who knows you so intimately can sometimes make it all that much easier to arrive at a decision.

So, beauty matching can be very rewarding and valuable. What it shouldn’t be is pressuring your partner, or feeling pressured, into something. Even if your partner really wants it for you, you want to do it for your own reasons.

It’s also not about getting procedures with the intent to look like each other.

How to go about it

As to what types of procedures can be matched, they’re typically aging procedures—couples are often relatively similar in age and tend to have common concerns about their appearance—but, technically, just about anything could be done together.

Generally, the procedures revolve around big life events—Botox before a wedding or liposuction before a milestone anniversary party—which is very often the case for individuals, too.

Regardless of the procedure, the key with beauty matching is communication. Before you schedule a consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon, make sure that you and your partner are on the same page about what each of you wants from the experience. This is the rare instance in your relationship where compromise isn’t a solution.

In my previous post (part one of this two-part series), we started our deep dive into the tummy tuck by exploring a few basic points: what the surgery’s meant to accomplish, what it entails, and what the recovery’s like.

Here, we’ll get into how to determine if a tummy tuck is right for you and, in the process, compare it to a couple of other popular body-contouring procedures, liposuction and CoolSculpting.

Is it right for you?

Tummy tucks are most commonly performed on women in their 40s and 50s, after they’ve finished having children. The reason for that can be traced to the two differentiating factors of the surgery: the muscle repair and skin removal. (Getting pregnant after a tummy tuck will stretch out the rectus muscles and the skin, essentially undoing the entire process.)

If you’re someone who has concerns about excess fat around your midsection, but not muscle separation or loose skin, or if you’re planning on having children, doctors generally won’t recommend a tummy tuck. In those instances, liposuction or a non-invasive body-contouring procedure, like CoolSculpting, may be a more appropriate choice.

Identifying which procedure is right for you can be tricky; each fills a different role. To help with that decision, seek out a board-certified plastic surgeon who’s experienced in all three forms of body contouring and try to be as clear as you can be in communicating what bothers you about your body and what your expectations are for the procedure.

How it compares

As I mentioned in my last post, a big part of the reason the tummy tuck has increased in popularity in recent years is because comparable noninvasive procedures can’t yet achieve the same results.

CoolSculpting works by freezing fat cells to kill them off, which is effective for dealing with trouble spots that no amount of diet or exercise ever seems to affect—a noninvasive procedure can usually reduce superficial fat by 25%, on average. But it won’t do anything to address the loose skin or underlying muscle separation the tummy tuck targets.

Liposuction can remove significantly more fat than noninvasive body contouring, but that’s the extent of its capabilities. In other words, it won’t tighten loose muscles, nor will it remedy loose skin.

For those for whom a tummy tuck is the most appropriate treatment, it’s still considered to be, among plastic surgeons, the gold standard of body contouring when it comes to results. Aside from the reasons mentioned up to this point, a tummy tuck, unlike many noninvasive procedures, likely won’t need to be refreshed after a few years. The results are considered fairly long-lasting—and, very often, nothing short of dramatic.

Even with the increasing popularity of noninvasive plastic surgery procedures, invasive plastic surgery remains on the rise.

Part of the reason may be because injectables, effective as they are, don’t offer the same level of results as a traditional surgical procedure, like a tummy tuck, which is still very prevalent—more than 130,000 were done in 2018, an increase over the prior year, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons—despite the immense growth of body-contouring procedures like CoolSculpting.

So, we’ll be taking a deep dive into the tummy tuck over the next two blogs and breaking down everything you need to know about it, including whether a noninvasive option can give you the results you’re after.

What to expect

A tummy tuck, also known as abdominoplasty, serves two purposes: It removes excess skin and reduces the separation between the abdominal muscles. As a bonus, it also gets rid of excess fat (more on that later).

A tummy tuck, in fact, is the only way to get rid of loose, sagging skin that can result from significant weight loss or pregnancy. Our skin is very much like elastic, and once it gets stretched to a certain point, it’s never going to return to its original state.

As for the muscle separation, we’re all born with it, though it increases with age, certain lifestyle factors, and, certainly, pregnancy. Once these muscles spread, the only way to bring them back together is through surgery. A tummy tuck brings the muscle edges together, acting like an internal corset.

A surgeon will make an incision across your bikini line, and through that incision, remove skin and tighten your abdominal muscles. Once the muscles are stitched together, the surgeon will pull the skin tight and remove any excess. (Yes, your belly button will shift down in the process, but don’t worry about that. The surgeon will make a new hole for it.)

Before finishing, the surgeon will place drains in your stomach to remove any excess fluid that accumulates as you heal. They’ll be removed after about a week.

Mini vs. full

Both the extent of the surgery and the recovery will depend on the type of tummy tuck, a “mini” or a full. The main difference between the two is the length of the incision and, thus, the amount of skin that can be removed. A mini runs from inner thigh to inner thigh, while a full spans the stomach from hip to hip. Another difference: The surgeon usually only stitches up the lower half of the abdominal muscles in a mini.

You’ll be under anesthesia for two-and-a-half to four hours, but tummy tucks are technically outpatient procedures, so you’ll be able to go home after spending a couple hours in the recovery room. But once you get home, you’ll need to be patient with your recovery. It could be a few days before you feel comfortable sitting or standing fully upright.

Plan to take a couple weeks off from work. You should be back to your normal activities—which will now include ample posing in front of a mirror—within five weeks.

In a survey of 2,000 people about their New Year’s resolutions, these were the three most popular goals:

1. Diet or eat healthier (71%)

2. Exercise more (65%)

3. Lose weight (54%)

Body image clearly weighs heavily on the minds of a lot of us. While there’s no discounting the numerous positive effects of eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly, it’s those first few steps that are potentially the most empowering.

As many as 60% of us admit to making New Year’s resolutions, yet only about 8% of us are successful in achieving them. In fact, right around now is when most are abandoning them. Which means that if you can find your way through this stretch, you’ll likely gain all the momentum you’ll need to enact some meaningful change in your life.

To that end, imagine how uplifting it would be know that you had a little extra support where you need it most. While you’re working up a sweat at the gym and eating more consciously, all the while something else is whittling down that stubborn pocket of fat around your thighs or bra strap that always manages to discourage you. And all you need to do to reap that benefit is spend an hour or so in a board-certified plastic surgeon’s office.

Why CoolSculpting is different

Body contouring is one of plastic surgery’s fastest-growing segments. For years, the only real solution for getting rid of excess fat was liposuction. Effective as it is, it’s surgery, which means there’s going to be some discomfort and a recovery period. By contrast, CoolSculpting, which quickly emerged as one of the most effective forms of the new generation of body-contouring technology, is noninvasive and it requires no downtime.

CoolSculpting employs a technique that was developed by scientists at Harvard where body fat is frozen through controlled cooling. Over the course of the 12 weeks after the treatment, the frozen (now dead) fat cells are shed naturally by the body, resulting in an up to 25% reduction of fat in the treated area.

It works because fat cells freeze at a higher temperature than other types of cells. Even more, once those fat cells are destroyed, they’re gone for good. So, if you do gain some weight down the road, it’ll distribute evenly and not just return to the places you targeted.

All you need is an hour

CoolSculpting has been used to help reduce body fat on the abdomen, flanks, upper back/bra area, upper arms, and inner and outer thighs.

The treatment takes about an hour, and it’s done right in the plastic surgeon’s office. The device will feel cold for the first few minutes after it’s activated. But after that, you shouldn’t feel much of anything. And once you leave the office, you’ll be able to get right back to your day. There’s no downtime at all.

You’ll likely begin to notice a difference after about a month. If your surgeon recommends a second treatment, you can schedule it as early as eight weeks after your initial treatment.

You know what’s 12 weeks away? Spring. Sunshine. Warmer weather. It’s also the point at which you can take a deep breath and tell yourself you made it. It’s no longer a New Year’s resolution. It’s your life now.