Davis

Only 10 years ago, much of cosmetic surgery seemed to be about aspiring to look like a supermodel on a magazine cover (their most famous features, at least) or turning back the hands of time in equally dramatic fashion.

The prevailing interest today is in much subtler results. People tend to want to look more like their own filtered photos, and it’s changing plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures in a number of meaningful ways.

For one, subtlety is ruling the day. The goal of most procedures now is that the results not be obvious. Increasingly, patients generally want to leave their inherent face structure intact, complete with their unique family traits, and look, well, more like themselves, but maybe with a few strategic tweaks.

They could take the form of fat-grafting for contouring and fine-tuning, rather than just plumping, or even breast augmentation, but with smaller, more naturally shaped or positioned implants.

They could also include the unorthodox use of filler to resolve slight but irritating facial and body quirks, like to tighten a stretched piercing in an earlobe or on the bridge of the nose during a noninvasive rhinoplasty (also known as a “liquid rhinoplasty”).

Body contouring

Noninvasive fat-reduction procedures, like CoolSculpting, are very much a part of this movement, too. What’s so subtle about shedding fat? These procedures are not intended (nor are they approved to be) weight-loss treatments. But they’ve proven to be very effective for people who are within 10 pounds of their goal weight.

And in the case of CoolSculpting, all it entails is sitting comfortably in a plastic surgeon’s office for a couple of sessions that typically take less than an hour each. Then it takes about three months for the frozen cells to die and be eliminated naturally by the body. And once those cells are gone, new cells aren’t able to take their place, which makes CoolSculpting a fairly permanent solution.

Preventative cosmetic treatments

Larger numbers of patients are also undergoing cosmetic treatments at a younger age as a preventative measure. In a recent survey by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 72% of its members reported an increase in cosmetic surgery or injectables in patients under 30.

While starting at such a young age may seem a little extreme, it is a sensible way to prevent invasive procedures in the long run. Keep in mind, too, that, yes, much of the interest described here is patient-driven. The stigma’s fallen away from plastic surgery, and it’s helped make a lot more people comfortable with the idea of seeking out a minimally-invasive procedure or two.

But the other part of that is that the science has advanced by leaps and bounds over recent years, making such tweaks possible. Little to no downtime, once the exception, is increasingly becoming the standard.

Much has been said—within this blog and elsewhere—about the rise of plastic surgery against the backdrop of new nonsurgical procedures that promise quick results and little to no downtime. As plastic surgery prioritized discretion, the stigma faded and the lunchtime procedure became part of the mainstream vocabulary.

While the noninvasive landscape evolved over the years, that lunch-hour jaunt to the plastic surgeon’s office became even more productive: dark under-eye circles were erased with facial fillers, radiance was restored with gentle fractional lasers, and bulges were frozen away with CoolSculpting.

A strange thing was happening all the while, however: The traditional facelift was experiencing a resurgence. Over 28% more people got facelifts in 2015 than in 1997, five years before the introduction of Botox, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). Turns out, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Is this really about time management?

The emergence of Botox and the other quick shots and no-downtime lasers was thought to spell the beginning of the end for the more invasive plastic surgery. But it seems to have had the reverse effect. Nonsurgical procedures have become an easier access point, allowing a lot of people who were curious to begin with to wade into plastic surgery through the shallow end.

As a result, interest is spiking in all kinds of plastic surgery, according to the ASAPS. In the case of the facelift, it helps that it’s undergone its own makeover in recent years. A rash of advances is enabling surgeons to achieve more natural-looking results while minimizing scarring and downtime.

But the larger trend is being attributed to an appreciable shift, with more and more people seeking long-lasting or permanent procedures, especially millennials. They’re forgoing nonsurgical means and instead investing in mini-face- and necklifts, their thinking being that it’s an easier commitment than returning to their surgeons’ offices every six months.

Pulling back the curtain on the facelift

As interest in the facelift continues to increase, those inquiring about it are getting younger. Some start as early as their thirties, but it’s generally smarter to wait until your forties, because the surgery’s less extensive than it is at later ages and the results can be easily—and beautifully—maintained with injectables. Not to mention the simple fact that younger bodies heal faster.

Whether this youth movement is responsible for the destigmatization of plastic surgery, or they’re just jumping on board because of it, this much is clear: The occasional nip-tuck is no longer taboo. Behind-the-scenes videos demystifying the surgical process and the unfiltered testimonials on social media have effectively made the process a whole lot less frightening.

With the recent explosion of noninvasive cosmetic treatments, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that demand for noninvasive fat-reduction procedures has become insatiable. Already, there are a dozen noninvasive body-contouring procedures employing several different technologies on the market, and even more are set to launch later this year and in 2020.

One industry analyst projects that noninvasive and minimally-invasive fat reduction procedures will be a $1.1 billion industry by 2022, as patients, increasingly, are prioritizing in-office treatments with minimal downtime over surgical solutions.

While all of this may make non- and minimally-invasive fat-reduction procedures sound like a modern holy grail, the truth is, not all treatments are made equal and not all procedures are right for every issue. With all this sudden interest and growth, body contouring has become an umbrella term for some very different kinds of treatments, including skin tightening, fat reduction, muscle tightening, and cellulite treatments.

Some treatments work for tough-to-reach body parts better than others, while others are more effective for targeted areas. Most treatments also take a couple of months for the results to fully materialize. Taking that under consideration, along with the technology’s rapid evolution, it’s difficult to point to one as the best treatment. But there are a couple that are more effective than the others.

Freezing fat away forever

CoolSculpting was one of the first noninvasive, fat-eliminating treatments to hit the market. The FDA-approved device uses controlled cooling to permanently freeze fat cells that are resistant to diet and exercise in areas like the inner thighs, upper arms, and stomach.

It takes about three months for the frozen cells to die and be eliminated naturally by the body, so a little patience is necessary. But once those cells are gone, new cells aren’t able to take their place, which makes CoolSculpting a fairly permanent solution.

Don’t forget about lipo

For all the leaps in technology, liposuction still reigns supreme when it comes to medical intervention for fat elimination. The same way that the rise of facial fillers has brought the facelift out of the shadows, the growth of non- and minimally-invasive body-contouring procedures has renewed interest in liposuction. And that’s because the former is intended as refinement for those within 10 pounds of their goal weight, not as a weight-loss method.

But liposuction’s done a lot of evolving itself, with improved techniques to reduce bruising and swelling, minimize scarring, and shorten recovery times. It’s not uncommon today for a patient to have liposuction on a specific area, like their thighs, and be back at work the next day. It’s also not a stretch to call liposuction the ultimate minimally-invasive fat reduction procedure.

The best way to find out which body-contouring procedure is the right fit for you is to consult with a board-certified plastic surgeon who can advise you based on a variety of physical and lifestyle factors.