There comes a time in many people’s lives when they find themselves contemplating the idea of fat removal procedures. As medical technology has advanced throughout the years, there are more and more options to choose from, rather than just liposuction. Many people find themselves torn between two similar procedures: liposuction and liposculpting. In order to make the most out of the procedure, it is important to know the differences between the two.

What Makes Them Different?

Besides the name, there are a few key differences between these two procedures. People are familiar with liposuction being the process of going under general anesthesia and having the surgeon physically remove the fat from the desired area. This is done through the use of small cannulas being inserted through small incisions near the desired area. The most common areas where this procedure is done include the abdomen, hips, back, thighs, and arms.

Liposculpting can be thought of as being a more refined version of this procedure. Unlike liposuction, this procedure commonly uses a local anesthetic injection in the area that is being sculpted. Finer cannulas are typically used, which allows for more precise targeting for the “sculpting” process. There is a much wider variety of areas that liposculpting can be done, as it is designed to be a more precise procedure.

Which Procedure is Best?

It can be hard to determine whether liposuction or liposculpting is better than the other as they serve different cosmetic purposes. Liposuction tends to be better for slimming the body’s overall appearance and changing the body’s contour. By its nature, liposuction is designed to allow for more fat removal and more weight loss than liposculpting, which is one of the reasons why it requires general sedation rather than localized. People can return to work after a few days and will be completely healed after two to four months at most.

Liposculpting is a better choice for defining a specific area of the body, whether that is the arms and legs, the abdomen, or even the neck. It focuses on adding definition to that body part instead of only slimming. Because of this, liposculpting is recommended for finer changes rather than being a procedure aimed at weight loss. The procedure tends to be quicker and has a shorter recovery time due to the fact that less fat is removed from the body.