People choose to have body sculpting to look and feel thinner or to attain a certain shape. It’s often used on specific areas of the body when diet and exercise aren’t making a difference.

Surgical options can also remove extra skin to make the skin look smoother and younger. Such procedures can help people who have excess skin after significant weight loss. It can also improve loose, saggy, or wrinkled skin that occurs with natural aging.

The healthcare professional will also:

• Examine and measure the area(s) you want to change.
• Draw on the area(s) with a marker or pen.
• Take pictures.
• Discuss your options and make recommendations.
• Review the risks and options, as well as discuss anesthesia and post-operative pain control if you’re considering surgery.

Depending on what kind of body sculpting you choose, the healthcare team may ask you to:

• Get blood work or have a physical exam with your primary care provider.
• Stop smoking.
• Stop taking certain medications (for example, aspirin, NSAIDs, and herbal supplements).

For surgical procedures, the team may:

• Mark the sites pre-operatively
• Position you on a surgical table and do safety checks with nursing and anesthesia.
• Administer anesthesia — local or general — based on the procedure.
• Clean and prepare the skin in the surgical area.
• Make incisions (cuts) in your skin — these are based on the procedure(s) performed.
• Cut, reposition or shape tissue and excess fat to create the look you want.
• Tightening muscles during abdominoplasty is common.
• Trim excess skin.
• Suction out excess fat using liposuction by itself or in combination with other procedures.
• Close any incisions when the procedure is complete.
• Apply bandages.

Most people go home the same day, even after surgical procedures. If you have surgery, you should have someone drive you home and stay with you the first night. And you may have a thin tube near one or more incisions to drain fluid and prevent swelling.

Your surgical team will give you recovery instructions. They may include:

• Caring for the drains and changing the bandages.
• Minding over-activity, but ambulating (moving around) to avoid blood clots.
• Reporting any complications — these will be explained pre-operatively.
• Staying out of the sun.
• Using medications (for example, ointments or pills) to control pain or prevent infection.