Body contouring is a different goal from weight loss and it is worth separating them at the outset. Weight loss reduces the overall amount of fat you carry, and your body decides where it comes from. Contouring changes shape in a specific place, usually somewhere that has resisted every reasonable effort to change it. The two are not substitutes, and the best contouring results go to patients who have already done the first part.
Sam Assassa, MD performs three distinct liposculpting techniques rather than one, which is what allows the method to follow the anatomy instead of the reverse. He is a member of the American Society of Liposuction Surgery, founded Beverly Hills Aesthetics in 1995, is board certified in Internal Medicine, and has performed more than 25,000 aesthetic procedures.
What Non-Surgical Contouring Actually Means
The term is used loosely across the industry, so here is what it means at this practice.
These procedures are performed in the office under tumescent local anesthesia, a dilute solution infiltrated directly into the treatment area. You are awake, there is no general anesthesia, no hospital, and no surgical facility, and you go home the same day.
They are minimally invasive rather than non-invasive. There is a small incision, a cannula placed beneath the skin, a compression garment afterward, and a genuine recovery period. What is avoided is the anesthesia, the operating room, and the weeks of recovery associated with conventional liposuction. That is a substantial difference and it is not the same as nothing happening.
What Body Contouring Can Change
Contouring works on localized fat deposits that have not responded to diet and exercise, which are largely determined by genetics rather than by effort.
Torso
- Abdomen, upper and lower
- Flanks and love handles
- Hips
- Male chest
Limbs
- Thighs, inner and outer
- Upper arms
Neck and upper back
Correction
What It Cannot Change
Three limits, stated plainly, because each one is a common reason patients end up disappointed.
It is not weight loss. Contouring removes localized fat and improves shape. It does not meaningfully reduce body weight, treat obesity, or deliver the metabolic benefits that actual weight reduction produces. Patients seeking substantial reduction should address that first and contour once weight has stabilized.
It does not tighten significantly loose skin. Laser assisted technique produces some tightening, and it is modest. Where skin has genuinely lost its elasticity, removing the fat beneath it can leave loosening where the volume used to be, and a procedure that removes skin is the better answer.
It has a volume ceiling. Procedures under local anesthesia are limited in how much tumescent solution can be used safely, which caps how much can be treated in one session. Patients wanting several large areas addressed may need staged sessions or a different approach entirely.
Choosing Between the Techniques
Three methods are available and they are selected against the area, the character of the fat, and the skin above it rather than by preference.
- Smart Laser Lipo delivers laser energy that liquefies fat before removal and produces some tightening in the overlying skin. The thermal component makes it useful where skin quality is part of the concern, particularly under the chin.
- EZ Lipo™ is a mechanical rather than thermal technique using very fine cannulas through one to two millimetre incisions. No heat is delivered into the tissue.
- S.A.F.E. Lipo separates fatty tissue into smaller portions before removal and redistributes what remains evenly, aimed specifically at avoiding the unevenness that is the most common complication in this category.
Combining techniques across one plan is common, since different areas of the same patient frequently call for different approaches.
Why Technique Matters More Than Equipment
The most common complication in body contouring is not too little removed, it is unevenness. Contour irregularity, rippling, and over-resection are judgment errors rather than equipment failures, and they are considerably harder to correct than to avoid.
What determines the result is how much comes out, from precisely where, and how the treated area blends into everything around it. That is why correction of previous liposuction performed elsewhere is part of this practice, and it is where the differences in technique show most plainly.
What to Expect
You remain awake throughout. Treatment length depends on how many areas are addressed.
Expect swelling, bruising, soreness, and temporary numbness afterward, along with a compression garment worn for a period to support healing and help the skin conform to the new contour. Most patients return to desk work within a few days and to exercise considerably later, on a schedule given to them specifically.
The final contour settles over three to six months. Judging your result at two weeks is judging swelling.
Risks and Safety
These are minimally invasive surgical procedures and the risk profile reflects that rather than that of an injectable appointment.
Expected effects include swelling, bruising, soreness, temporary numbness, and firmness during healing. Small marks remain at the incision sites.
Risks include contour irregularity, rippling, or asymmetry, which is the most common aesthetic complication. Others include seroma, infection, bleeding, prolonged swelling or numbness, changes in skin sensation, skin laxity where fat has been removed from beneath skin that lacked elasticity, and thermal injury where a laser technique is used. Tumescent local anesthetic carries its own considerations at higher volumes, which is one reason the amount treated in a single session is limited deliberately.
Individual results vary and no outcome can be guaranteed.
Schedule a Body Contouring Consultation in Beverly Hills
If specific areas have not responded to diet and exercise, a consultation will establish whether contouring is the right approach and which technique suits the area and your skin. Dr. Assassa will assess your fat distribution and skin quality and give you an honest account of what one session can achieve. Beverly Hills Aesthetics serves patients from Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, and Century City. Request a consultation or schedule your appointment online.