Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Articles

As you start to seriously consider cosmetic plastic surgery, you’ll most likely want to learn as much as you can about the procedure you’ve homed in on. Many, by the time they reach their consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon, will have at least a basic understanding of what the procedure and recovery will be like.

Doing some homework before you meet with a plastic surgeon isn’t necessary, but it can help facilitate a more informed conversation and manage your expectations for the outcome.

Google can also be helpful in another regard: Filling in the patient’s perspective. Just remember to parse what you uncover. The internet can often seem like a place where only two kinds of opinions exist, the hopelessly negative and the over-the-top positive, particularly within social media circles. So, first and foremost, consider the source.

As an example, RealSelf, the online plastic surgery forum, recently published a story titled, What 7 Women Who Had a Brazilian Butt Lift Would Have Done Differently. As you’d expect, some of the opinions shared are fairly negative, but not in the way you’d think.

Editorial outlets, which RealSelf should be considered, can generally be trusted to tell their stories in an objective manner. Their main goal, in fact, is to explore a given topic from a well-rounded perspective, not to push an agenda.

In this particular instance, the Brazilian butt lift is a procedure that’s surged in popularity over the last few years. With that kind of interest, a not-insignificant number of people have rushed into—and out of—it. Consider the following quote from the RealSelf article:

“If I could go back, I would have lost more weight prior to the surgery. Because I was so heavy going in, even with my doctor taking the maximum amount of fat that he could take out, I was still left with a lot that I needed to lose. And I didn’t want to lose my reinjected fat cells, so I was just torn between losing my gut or my butt.”

And this one:

“I would definitely have chosen a different surgeon. I chose him because my co-worker and her friends highly recommended him—however, they had chosen him for different procedures, and he was known for wonderful tummy tucks and breast augmentations.”

There are important lessons to be learned here. And that’s a critical difference between editorial articles and the patient testimonials you typically find deep in the comments section or on a personal blog.

Learning as much as you can about a plastic surgery procedure is always a good thing. But it’s important to scrutinize the information along the way.

While liposuction remains the gold standard for quickly shedding stubborn pockets of fat, we’re also seeing the rise of non-invasive alternatives. With a number of them already well established and a host of others about to enter the market, non-invasive fat removal is considered to be one of the fastest growing segments of cosmetic plastic surgery.

CoolSculpting stands at the top of that particular mountain because it was among the first-available treatments. In the years since its arrival, its effectiveness has turned it into a household name.

CoolSculpting can treat just about any unwanted bulge, but it’s FDA-approved for the abdomen, love handles, thighs, upper arms, “bra fat,” back fat, “banana roll” underneath your butt, and double chin. It works by freezing fat cells in the targeted area, which then die and are eliminated by the body naturally. But that’s hardly the only way to go about it. Today, non-invasive treatments employ radiofrequency and ultrasound technology and even lasers to do the job.

So, how does CoolSculpting stack up? Let’s see.

The challenger: Venus Freeze

In spite of its name, Venus Freeze uses radiofrequency energy to heat up and shrink fat cells. It’s limited in its ability, however, to eliminate fat. That’s really a secondary benefit of the Venus Freeze, whose primary function is to spur the production of collagen, which will ultimately tighten sagging skin and reduce cellulite. In a head-to-head comparison, CoolSculpting is the more effective fat-reduction treatment.

The challenger: Liposonix

Liposonix destroys fat cells with ultra-high-frequency ultrasound. And it’s quite effective at doing so, with reports from those who’ve undergone the treatment that they’ve lost as much as one pants or dress size afterward. For comparison, CoolSculpting claims up to a 25 percent reduction of fat in the treated area. Where they differ most significantly is in how they’re used. Where CoolSculpting is fairly versatile, Liposonix can only be used on the abdomen. It’s also a relatively painful procedure, while CoolSculpting, beyond some initial numbing, is not.

The challenger: Laser Lipolysis

As its name implies, a high-powered laser melts fat cells in the targeted area. They’ll then be metabolized, or, for faster results, they can be removed through a process similar to liposuction. Laser lipolysis has the added benefit of also spurring collagen production, which will ultimately firm sagging skin—something that CoolSculpting does not do.

While both procedures are considered safe, laser lipolysis carries more risk than CoolSculpting, namely because the laser can damage surrounding blood vessels, nerves, and even organs. Usually, that merely equates to an extended recovery period. But even a minimal period is a lot compared to CoolSculpting, which entails little to no recovery.