Body contouring: Men and women shell out extra bucks to stay in shape

Forty-seven-year-old Sucheta (name changed on request) had been on a restricted diet and strict exercise regime for almost 17 years to get that perfect body. Despite much slogging, stubborn fat in her thighs and buttocks would not go away. “Those small, cute dresses were just a dream for me,” she said.

Then, one day, she decided to end it all.

“I made up my mind and started saving for a body-contouring procedure,” the Delhi-based professional said.


It is no longer in vogue to just sweat it out in gyms and ditch those desserts to get rid of the extra kilos and shed flab. Indians are now opting for a faster, technologically advanced method to get a perfect ten — body contouring; and shelling out some extra cash is not a big deal anymore.

Body contouring is a procedure that alters the shape of the human body by eliminating excess skin and fat cells. Tummy tucking, removal of man breasts, getting rid of love handles and arm lifts are sought-after procedures for body contouring, say doctors and aesthetic clinics which perform these procedures.

And it is not just the fairer sex, as is the popular perception, that gets procedures such as body contouring done, said Monica Bahal of VLCC Healthcare. “The men to women ratio of clients who get body contouring done is 35:65,” she said.

“Looks matter a lot these days,” said Dr Sapna V Roshni, a plastic surgeon, adding that sometimes, despite exercising and being on diet regimes, body fat remains stubborn in certain areas and does not go away and patients resort to procedures such as body contouring.

However, it’s not always about looks. For some people, such procedures are just required, may be for correcting posture.

Starting for as less as Rs 45,000 for a small area such as the chin (for removal of double chin), the cost can go up to several lakhs, depending upon the area where the procedure is conducted.

For women, the most popular corrections are tummy tucking, lifting up of sagging breasts and buttocks and removal of love handles and double chin. For men, it is gynecomastia correction, or the male breast reduction surgery.

“The confidence that young men gain after the procedure (gynecomastia correction), the morale boost, is amazing to know,” Dr Roshni said.

Body contouring can be done both by surgical as well as nonsurgical ways and both procedures are gaining popularity, said Dr Datinderjeet Singh Tulla, a plastic and cosmetic surgeon with 15 years of experience.

In surgeries, essentially the number of fat cells in an area is reduced by inducing lipolytic solutions, which are then removed. These are followed by accompanying procedures like tummy tuck surgeries, to remove the hanging skin.

Other body-contouring surgeries can be thigh lifts, buttock lift, arm lifts, etc. The third type of surgeries is fat transfer where fat from one part can be put in some other parts where volume is needed.

“There is a large subset of patients who do not want to go in for invasive procedure. In this case we talk of two things — fat reduction and skin tightening,” Dr Tulla said. Under non-surgical, fat freeze is the most popular technique, he added.

Other methods such as laser treatment, ultrasound-based technique and radio-frequencybased methods are also available in the market.

The non-surgical procedures have gained so much popularity in the past few years that these now contribute 30% to VLCC’s total revenue. One reason for the popularity is that one does not have to deal with the down time of a surgery. “A patient can go to work or take a flight immediately after the procedure,” Bahal of VLCC said.

Such is the demand for the procedure that Allergan, the Irish pharma company that sells CoolSculpt, a device used to carry out fat freeze, is aiming to double its revenue from this product in India in the next couple of years.


“Hence you can imagine the importance of CoolSculpting in our aesthetic business and the focus it will get in the next few months. We are present in all renowned wellness and aesthetic clinics, in major cities across the country,” said Sridhar Ranganathan, managing director of Allergan India and South Asia.

Experts attribute the rapid increase in popularity of expensive aesthetic procedures to EMIs (equated monthly instalments). “EMIs have made expensive procedures affordable for common people,” Dr Tulla said. People no longer view it as a procedure costing several lakhs — it now costs a few thousands every month. And they are ready to take the burden for a year or two when they see the results.

Apart from EMIs, awareness brought about by the Internet is another reason which helped in lowering inhibitions. “Every patient who walks in is already aware of the benefits. Most would have seen YouTube videos of procedures being done,” said Dr Kuldeep Singh, plastic surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.

However, there are no substitutes for hard work. Experts insist that body contouring will be most effective only if accompanied by exercise and a healthy diet. A fatfreeze session can reduce only up to 20-25% of fat cells in one session and to maintain that one needs to keep a check on their diet and live an active life.