Body contouring is one of my areas of expertise. Having developed a love of classical art, sculpture and form during college, it’s the closest I can come to being Michelangelo. Contouring allows me to literally sculpt your body back into proper proportion. This is something that patients don’t always understand. Body contouring is not about weight loss. In fact, the scale may only move a few pounds after liposuction, for example. The goal, instead, is to create a harmonious, balanced look to your figure. This, in turn, will make you appear longer, leaner and more fit, and feel more youthful, vital and confident. One of the questions that I get asked most frequently by prospective patients is whether non-surgical body contouring is less expensive? Bottom line, it depends.
Body Contouring Cost
Cost is something that I take seriously. This is why I am extremely honest during your initial consultation about what each given procedure can and cannot deliver. One of the hard things about body contouring cost is that the term encompasses so many different procedures. Depending on your:
- Anatomy
- Previous procedures
- Desired outcome
- Tolerance for downtime
- Budget
A body contouring procedure may include one or more of the following:
- Breast Augmentation
- Breast Lift
- Breast Reduction
- Male Chest Reduction
- Mommy Makeover
- Fat Grafting
- Tummy Tuck
- Mini-Tummy Tuck
- Liposuction
- SculpSure®
- Renuvion®
*Each patient is unique and individual results may vary.
Expense of Non-Surgical vs. Surgical Body Contouring
The cost of body contouring, therefore, is going to depend on what, exactly, you have done. My goal when designing a treatment plan is to safely deliver your desired result with as little downtime as possible, and on budget. While a surgical procedure is going to be more expensive, it is also usually more efficient, while a non-surgical procedure will typically require multiple sessions, spaced about a month apart. This means that removing fat from your abdomen with SculpSure® may wind up costing as much, if not more, than liposuction. The former runs between $1,200 and $2,400 per treatment while the later will cost between $7,000 and $10,000 if performed under general anesthesia, and $6,000 – $9,000 if performed under local anesthesia.
This may sound like a huge price differential. But the abdomen is a big piece of real estate so it will come in on the high end of the SculpSure® cost scale. Furthermore, even a super fit patient with only a few stubborn pockets of fat is probably going to require at least 3 sessions. That puts your final price tag for a non-surgical body contouring procedure for the abdomen at a higher dollar amount than a surgical body contouring procedure for the abdomen.
Non-Surgical Body Contouring Takes More Time
Non-Surgical body contouring is also a bigger “expense” in terms of time. Sticking with the abdomen since it is such a problem area for both my male and female patients, your recovery time after liposuction is about 3 weeks for all normal activities although you can return to work within a couple of days. You will notice a difference in your body contour immediately. While there is virtually no downtime associated with SculpSure®, it may take 3 months or longer for your final results depending on how many treatments you need.
For many patients, this is ok. Some simply don’t want surgery. Others maybe can’t have surgery for health reasons, and a non-surgical procedure is a safe alternative. Many of my male patients do not want to deal with any downtime even it means a faster overall result. This is why the right treatment plan is going to be different for everyone.
Combining Surgical Procedures Can Bring Down Cost
Another way to reduce the cost of your body contouring treatment plan is to combine procedures. The most common combination that I perform in my Boston area offices is the Mommy Makeover. As the name infers, it typically involves some sort of breast surgery and a tummy tuck as these are the two areas of the body most affected by childbirth. However, I have many Mommy Makeover patients who never had children. The advantage of, let’s say, having a breast augmentation and a full tummy tuck at once is that you are only going to have one anesthesia and one surgery center cost which makes the procedure a better deal than having them done separately. The other huge advantage of combining procedures is that you will only have one recovery time.
When it comes to body contouring cost, nothing is more expensive than a procedure that does not deliver. This is why I will tell a patient who needs a tummy tuck because she has excess fat and excess skin, but cannot afford it to wait. SculpSure® can deliver some improvement in terms of the fat. However, it won’t address the loose skin and might even make it worse. Then, you’ve spent all this money and you don’t look the way either of us want. It’s just not worth it.
To find out more about non-surgical or surgical body contouring with Dr. Sean Doherty at his Boston or Brookline office, contact us today or call (617) 450.0070 to schedule a consultation.