Despite healthy habits, some areas of the body can hold onto stubborn fat—no matter how much effort you put into your diet, exercise routine, and everyday habits. That can be frustrating, especially when you’ve worked hard toward your weight loss goals. But it’s not always something you’re doing “wrong,” it’s just how our bodies work sometimes.
For all the time and attention you’ve put into your journey, you deserve to love your reflection in the mirror. Liposuction near Knoxville is the perfect treatment for targeted fat reduction, helping you enhance your natural body contours and see greater definition in your figure.
When paired with skin-tightening treatments like Quantum RF, Ellacor, and Morpheus8, liposuction can be part of a powerful plan to achieve the look you’ve worked for—without compromising what makes you uniquely you.
Continue reading to learn more about the liposuction process at Shea Aesthetic Clinic. To meet with Dr. Bass and start working towards the body of your dreams, please call us or schedule your initial consultation online.
What Is Liposuction?
Liposuction is a minimally invasive body contouring procedure that removes stubborn fat using a small tube called a cannula, along with gentle vacuum suction. By permanently eliminating fat cells, liposuction sculpts and refines your shape.
This treatment is ideal for targeting areas where fat tends to be resistant to diet and exercise. Common treatment areas for liposuction include:
- Neck and jowls
- Abdomen
- Thighs
- Arms
- Back
- Hips
Why have Liposuction?
Even with consistent diet and exercise, some areas of fat are simply more resistant to change.
When we work out, we strengthen our muscles, which helps us consume more energy and convert the energy stored in our body’s fat cells into muscle. While you can focus on strengthening certain muscle groups in exercise, it cannot target specific areas of fat. This includes a hanging stomach, bra and underarm fat, or jowling under the chin.
Over the course of a long and disciplined weight loss journey, these areas may naturally shrink a little bit, but they often cannot be completely erased. Genetics also play a role in our bodies’ unique patterns of fat distribution.
Fortunately, liposuction near Knoxville can help you minimize unwanted fat where traditional weight loss methods fall short.
Is Liposuction a Weight Loss Substitute?
No, liposuction cannot be used in place of a healthy diet and exercise.
The complication rate from liposuction increases when the BMI (Body Mass Index, a body-fat-to-height ratio used to calculate body composition) is greater than 30. So, Dr. Kirk Bass only performs liposuction for patients with a BMI less than 30.
Patients with a BMI greater than 30 are prescribed weight loss medications and enrolled in Shea Aesthetic Clinic’s weight loss program. Once their goal weight is achieved, they can receive liposuction for the stubborn areas of fat that remain after weight loss.
Unsure what your BMI is—but ready to make a change? Schedule a consultation with Dr. Bass or one of our weight loss coaches today.
At Shea Aesthetic Clinic, we view liposuction as the best way to get rid of stubborn fat that does not respond to weight loss efforts. We also use liposuction to support healthy lifestyle changes.
Liposuction permanently removes fat cells. They don’t grow back. Once removed they are gone forever. So, as long as you maintain the same weight, your liposuction results will be permanent.
To help you stay on the right path, our experts will provide diet and exercise recommendations during your initial consultation and post-procedure follow-ups. For best results, join Shea Aesthetic Clinic’s weight loss and fitness program to help stay lean and fit forever.
How to Know if Liposuction Is Right for You
Liposuction is ideal for patients that are near their ideal body weight but still have stubborn areas of fat. This frustrating fat can be anywhere: under the chin, around the abdomen or thighs, on the back of the arms, above the knees, or under the bra line.
Candidacy for liposuction near Knoxville varies from patient to patient, but Dr. Bass recommends liposuction for individuals at a healthy, stable weight that are seeking to minimize localized pockets of fat. For those seeking more overall change, Shea’s weight loss program is the right place to start.
To determine whether liposuction suits your needs, you’ll start with a consultation with Dr. Bass.
During your consultation, Dr. Bass will listen carefully as you describe the areas you want to sculpt with liposuction and the vision you have of yourself after treatment. He will address each of your questions and concerns. Then he will perform a physical exam, obtain your medical history, and take pictures of your problem area(s).
If you and Dr. Bass decide that liposuction near Knoxville is your best option, he’ll create a liposuction plan that is tailored to your hopes and goals.
What Happens During a Liposuction Procedure at Shea?
On the day of your liposuction procedure, make sure to eat breakfast and drink plenty of fluids. You’ll need someone to take you home after your procedure.
When you arrive at Shea, a member from our team helps you get comfortable and prepare for surgery. You’ll start with a body composition analysis and pictures of the area to be treated.
You’ll choose your favorite music to listen to during the procedure and take some medications to help you relax.
Then Dr. Bass and his assistants will inject the treatment area with lidocaine so that you are completely numb and comfortable. You will be awake and speaking with Dr. Bass and his surgical team throughout the process.
This process is referred to as “Liposuction under Local Anesthesia.” Liposuction is safer, with less complications, when performed on an awake patient. But don’t worry—it isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds. You’ll be fully numb, and able to give feedback to your providers as they work. Depending on your needs, we also offer Pro-Nox, or laughing gas, to ensure you have a positive experience.
Once you’re fully numb, Dr. Bass makes a few tiny incisions around your treatment area. Liposuction cannulas are inserted through these incisions and the fat in the area is vacuumed out. Each incision will be closed with 1 small suture.
Finally, we’ll place a surgical support garment over your treatment area, which helps reduce swelling and helps your new contours take shape.
The length of the procedure is determined by the treatment area and the amount of fat being removed. Typically, the time from arrival until you go home is about 3-5 hours.
Pairing Liposuction With Quantum RF and Ellacor
At Shea Aesthetic Clinic, we’re the skin tightening experts.
Liposuction near Knoxville creates amazing results by itself. Though liposuction is fantastic at removing fat, it doesn’t do much to tighten skin.
Liposuction without skin tightening procedures can leave you with loose, saggy skin.
The best results come from removing fat AND tightening the skin.
Technologies have been developed to “assist” liposuction so that it can remove fat AND tighten skin at the same time. Dr. Bass provides “Radiofrequency Assisted Liposuction.” Other providers may use “Laser Assisted Liposuction.” These assisted liposuction technologies provide skin tightening with liposuction without having to remove skin surgically. This way you can have less fat, tighter skin, and no scars from skin removal.
To further enhance skin tightening in the treatment area, Dr. Bass offers non-surgical skin removal with ellacor (micro-coring technology) which removes skin without surgery and without scars. For patients with very mild skin laxity/looseness, Dr. Bass will use radiofrequency microneedling to tighten the skin over the treatment area, instead of ellacor.
Dr. Bass is one of the only providers in the country to combine the technologies of radiofrequency assisted liposuction with micro-coring technology. This combination allows him to remove your fat, tighten the tissues under the skin with radiofrequency and tighten the skin over the treatment area by non-surgical skin removal.
Quantum RF
Quantum RF is the radiofrequency device Dr. Bass uses to tighten your skin during liposuction.
Quantum RF treatment involves a specially-designed probe that applies radiofrequency energy (heat) directly to the fat under your skin. This energy basically melts fat and tightens the tissue under your skin.
On its own, Quantum RF can permanently destroy about 25% of fat cells.
Quantum RF by itself, doesn’t suction out fat like liposuction does. Instead, Quantum RF heats fat tissue under the skin. The cells nearest to the heat are melted and instantly destroyed. The fat cells a little further from the heat sustain a thermal injury which programs them to die off and be removed by the body via a process called apoptosis. Apoptosis is our body’s natural way of removing old and dying cells from the body without inflammation or pain.
Because there are damaged fat cells in the treatment area, you can expect continued tightening and shrinking of the area with time.
When Dr. Bass uses Quantum RF to assist liposuction (radiofrequency assisted liposuction), he performs the Quantum RF first, to melt the fat and tighten the tissues in the area. Then, he follows Quantum RF with liposuction to vacuum out and remove the melted fat.
Ellacor
Ellacor is the name of our micro-coring device. Micro-coring which is THE most effective treatment option available for non-surgical skin-tightening.
How does it work? Ellacor tightens skin by removing excess skin.
Having your skin tightened with micro-coring technology is comparable to having your lawn aerated. Lawn aeration pulls up tiny plugs/columns of dirt and grass. Micro-coring pulls up and removes tiny columns of skin (thousands of them). Ellacor uses a set of 3 small, hollow needles that go into the skin, through the epidermis, dermis, and just barely down into the fat. The tiny columns of skin inside the needles get sucked up and vacuumed away.
Removing skin with micro-coring leaves you with tighter skin and less wrinkles. The more skin we remove with ellacor, the tighter your skin is after the treatment.
The only treatment that is more effective than ellacor for skin tightening is surgical skin removal which leaves you with large scars. So, ellacor is the treatment of choice for people who want skin tightening without scalpels, surgery, and scars.
Ellacor micro-coring also gives your skin a hefty collagen boost. It’s been shown to increase collagen levels in the skin by 700%. Why does this matter? Collagen is one of the body’s most abundant proteins, playing an essential role in skin health.
The process of removing micro-cores of skin stimulates the body’s natural healing response, ultimately increasing collagen production and fortifying the skin on a cellular level to create brighter, more youthful-looking skin.
Combining ellacor with liposuction near Knoxville is like hitting the reset button on the entirety of your treatment area. Not only will your fat be gone, your skin will be permanently tightened around your newly-exposed muscle.
Morpheus8
Morpheus8 is one of the most well-known treatments for skin tightening and improving overall skin texture and tone. Morpheus8 is frequently used after liposuction near Knoxville to tighten the skin over the area where the fat has been removed.
By pairing traditional microneedling with radiofrequency (RF) energy, Morpheus8 heats the lower layers of skin to prompt the body’s healing response. Similar to the ellacor process, this boosts collagen production to firm and tighten the skin.
Depending on your skin thickness, your age, and the degree of skin laxity you have, you’ll either receive Morpheus8 or ellacor after your radiofrequency assisted liposuction procedure to help tighten your skin. This decision will be made ahead of time by you and your provider together as you determine best approaches to your needs and your individual body.
Deciding Your Best Option
With Quantum RF, ellacor, and Morpheus8, in addition to Liposuction in Knoxville, your treatment is completely customized to meet your goals and needs.
Dr. Bass personally conducts each consultation and creates liposuction and skin tightening plans that are truly tailored to you. If enough fat is going to be removed to create loose skin, he’ll be able to tell the extent of that laxity and craft proactive solutions to help you avoid any sort of “deflated” appearance.
Contour Your Best Body With Liposuction
You put all the hard work into losing weight. Now, let us help you feel more confident by trimming away the stubborn fat that remains with body contouring treatments like Quantum RF, ellacor, Morpheus8, and liposuction near Knoxville.
Your weight loss and body confidence goals never have to feel out of reach at Shea Aesthetic Clinic. Schedule your initial consultation online or give our team a call to begin this next chapter in your body sculpting journey.
Want to learn more about non-surgical excess skin removal? Interested in creating your personalized weight loss plan? Head over to our blog for all the details you need to know before booking your next appointment.
