Your Guide to Body Contouring Training

Author

Dr. Stephen Cosentino

Body contouring is a broad group of cosmetic and aesthetic treatments designed to help patients look and feel their best.

It covers noninvasive procedures like radio frequency (RF) skin tightening, minimally invasive body sculpting treatments like abdominal thread lifts and injectable treatments, and surgical body sculpting procedures like liposuction and tummy tucks.

Some aesthetic providers and medical training companies include facial contouring procedures like eye thread lifts and Kybella® chin treatments under the body contouring umbrella. Others define body and facial contouring separately.

Regardless of how it’s defined, body contouring is a rapidly growing aesthetic discipline. If you’d like to expand your cosmetic practice, it may be time to invest in body contouring training.

Here’s what you need to know about it.

Body Contouring Training — What It Covers

A comprehensive body contouring training course should cover the medical basis for body contouring, relevant anatomy, specific body contouring treatment procedures, regulatory requirements, and business considerations around body contouring treatment.

The ideal course mixes online instruction that allows students to learn at their own pace with hands-on instruction featuring experienced providers and volunteer patients. It should include:

Scientific Background for Body Contouring. This module should cover the science of body contouring, including a brief history of each technique and how and why they work.

Relevant Medical Instruction. This should cover patient anatomy, physiology, and other relevant medical concepts to reinforce the “how” and “why” of body contouring.

Overview of Specific Procedures. This is one of the core modules of any body contouring training program. It should introduce trainees to specific procedures, from body contouring injectables training to laser lipo.

Detailed Instruction in Body Contouring Procedures. The provider should offer detailed, step-by-step, and preferably hands-on demonstration of body contouring procedures.

Overview of Body Contouring Equipment and Safe Use. The course should cover in detail the different types of medical equipment used in body contouring. It should include instructions for their safe use and provide product manuals for reference.

Overview of Management of Body Contouring Patients. The course should provide detailed patient management instruction, including qualification checklists and contraindications for treatment.

Business, Regulatory, and Practice Management Considerations. No body contouring training would be complete without an overview of the business side of the practice, from marketing and regulatory compliance to pricing and patient communication.

The training provider should make all written and multimedia course materials available to trainees after successful completion. You’ll surely want to review them as you build your body contouring practice.

Body Contouring Training Course Objectives

Body contouring training should go beyond procedural instruction and set this group of procedures in the broader aesthetic medicine context. It should also arm providers with all the information they need to provide excellent patient care and superior results — while turning a profit.

Specifically, body contouring training should set providers up for success by:

Weaving together the science behind body contouring techniques with their actual practice
Helping them evaluate and qualify patients for treatment
Providing detailed instruction in popular body contouring procedures using current, evidence-based best practices
Providing a detailed overview of pre- and post-treatment procedures, including management of complications
Educating them on the regulatory environment and safety considerations

Where to Find Body Contouring Training

You can read about body contouring training online, but that’s no substitute for learning how to do it yourself.

So, turn to a certified body sculpting training provider — ideally, an accredited continuing medical education provider whose instructors are board-certified medical practitioners with years of experience in the procedures and techniques they teach.