Am I a better candidate for Emsculpt or a tummy tuck? (Photo)

CoolSculpting is a non-invasive procedure that uses a vacuum applicator to draw in skin and underlying subcutaneous fat to deliver controlled cooling. This penetrates below the skin causing permanent elimination of fat. It can be administered in a variety of areas on the body, including the jaw and chin area, lower and upper abdomen, back, arms, and thighs. You can do EMSculpt after to tone the muscles.

Of the treatment options they are full tummy tuck vs liposuction. Emsculpt is not on the list. It’s a temporary treatment that in reality only gives muscle strengthening. I don’t think having stronger abdominal muscles will be visible through your fat layer and mod skin laxity.

You could consider just liposuction if you just want contour improvements. It will not give you tight skin so if you want that you should consider the full tummy tuck.

I recommend patients avoid traveling long distances for elective surgical procedures. There are of course instances where there is a lack of local talent and traveling to some degree is inevitable. If traveling for the procedure patients should be ready to travel to have the consultation, post operative appointments and follow up should there be issues or complications.
Patients sometimes do not appreciate the importance of in person consultations, that complications do happen or the number of people who have issues with their results or need revisions.

Schedule multiple consultations with different providers in your area who seem to have a good reputation for the procedure you’re interested in. Starting with at least five consultations seems like a reasonable number to me.

Whenever possible schedule in person consultations.
During in person consultations ask each plastic surgeon to show all of their before and after pictures for the procedure you’re interested in.

The goal is not to see the best results of their career but to get an idea of what average results look like and get some type of confirmation of how many of these procedures that provider has performed.

Ask to see results that were not as good as the doctor would’ve hoped for and talk about the differences in outcomes.

Honest and experienced providers should have no problems presenting this type of information.

A highly experienced plastic surgeon should have hundreds of before and after pictures for the procedure you’re interested in. At a minimum at least 20+.

Read all the reviews on various physician review websites paying close attention and avoiding providers with any significant number of justified negative reviews. Providers with an abundance of reviews often have aggressive marketing campaigns.

The plastic surgeons I respect most all have the single variable of not having justified negative reviews on their online profiles.
In my opinion justified negative reviews are far more telling than an abundance of positive reviews.

Avoid scheduling for surgery or making a deposit on the day of the consultation. Give yourself some time to think about the decision and make sure you finished all scheduled consultations before committing to having surgery that will permanently and irreversibly change your body.

When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.

Choosing the right plastic surgeon is the single most important variable to having a positive experience.

Don’t go chasing after technology or names of certain equipment. Instead focus all your efforts on finding the most experienced and talented board-certified plastic surgeon.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD