How to Lose Those Last Ten Pounds? Ask Dr. Scarpidis

At some point, you may not be able to sculpt your body any further, but perhaps your doctor can.

By Jeffrey James Keyes

There’s an old saying: “You can’t out exercise a bad diet” — meaning essentially that no amount of gym time can make up for careless consumption. But there is also fat that neither good diet nor correct exercise will overcome. For those situations, there is help.

“It’s not about dieting,” says Dr. Ulysses Scarpidis (scarpidisaesthetics.com). “It’s about changing your shape: treating that problem area that — even though you go to the gym, even though you eat well — you cannot get that section of fat to go away.” He warns that individuals in the market for body contouring should not seek out a specific procedure but rather consult with an expert in the field about their goals, and the newest technology isn’t always the right answer.

“There is the invasiveness spectrum,” says Scarpidis. “As you go up in invasiveness, you go up in cost, and you usually go up in down time, recovery time and intensity of the procedure.” On the other hand, more invasive procedures also have the most dramatic results.

“SculpSure is our least invasive body contouring technology on the market today,” points out Scarpidis. “It basically has no down time at all; it takes twenty-five minutes to do the procedure. … This relies on the patient’s own body and immune system to go and clear away all the injured fat cells. It’s ideal for the athletic patient, who has that extra hump that they need to pass. It’s sort of the super way to shred, if you will. I think SculpSure works best on people who [have a healthy level of body fat] and just need to shave off that extra layer.”

Scarpidis points to SmartLipo laser liposuction as a technology that has evolved significantly over the past 10 years and can help address more significant fat in areas including the abdomen, arms, back, buttocks, hips, chest, and thighs. “The ideal patient for SmartLipo is someone who has sizable love handles,” Scarpidis suggests. “It’s a much more invasive procedure to SculpSure, yet not as invasive as traditional, regular liposuction.” Scarpidis describes SmartLipo as “completely popping the fat cells, creating an oil under the skin, and you go and suck that oil out; so it’s instant gratification.”

Scarpidis points out that all procedures should be performed in concert with a lifestyle change — otherwise you risk creating new problem areas. “If you have SmartLipo to your love handles, and it removes the majority of those fat cells, and you gain five pounds, it’s not going to show in your love handles — because proportionally speaking, there’s less fat cells there,” he says. “It’s going to go to your belly. Your belly is going to grow.”