Many female celebrities that we have admired over the decades had a beautiful hourglass shape. The hourglass shape has always been a symbol of femininity and the most desired female body shape. And the reason behind this is obvious: the hourglass body shape is characterized by similar dimensions of the hips and shoulders and a much smaller waist. Studies have shown that women with wide hips are perceived as healthier and able to bear children, and this has a certain appeal for men at an unconscious level. In other words, we can’t help being attracted to a woman with a good hip-to-waist ratio. This is the reason why modern plastic surgery has put the efforts into helping patients achieve the beautiful hourglass shape.
In the past, plastic surgery was used to correct one feature of the body or the other, so the focus was on a specific area of the body and not the body as a whole. It is true that even nowadays, there are plastic surgeons who fail to see the body in all its beauty and would rather concentrate on the breasts, the waist, or the buttocks. However, an experienced plastic surgeon with an eye for detail will look at the whole body, and then only after the features that make it so. This is the only way the patient can achieve spectacular results and also have a harmonious body.
Modern-day techniques for achieving the hourglass shape are the hourglass tummy tuck and the hourglass hip procedure. In some cases, something as simple and straightforward as liposuction can be enough to help the patient achieve the most sought-after body shape, but in many cases, it takes much more.
The hourglass tummy tuck is actually a combination of three procedures performed at once to help the patient improve the outline of the body while also correcting the imperfections present on the abdominal wall such as loose abdominal muscles and umbilical hernia. The hourglass tummy tuck is a procedure preferred by women who have had multiple pregnancies as it can effectively erase the signs left behind by a C-section operation and strengthen weakened abdominal muscles. When the hourglass tummy tuck is performed, the plastic surgeon will start with liposuction on the flanks and the abdominal wall to ensure the waist is as slim as possible. After this, the tummy tuck is performed followed by fat transfer to the hips to ensure a good hip- to-waist ratio.
The hourglass hip procedure addresses women with narrow hips and an excess of fat on the flanks. These patients often have a square body shape, which is not very aesthetically pleasing. When the hourglass hip procedure is performed, the fat is collected from the flanks and abdominal wall and then transferred to the hips to give them more volume.
The recovery period after the hourglass procedures is not overly long, and the first results are to be expected within the first two months post-op.