Abdominal Etching Gives You The Six-Pack Workouts Might Not Deliver

Anyone who has hit the gym intending to get stronger, lose weight and get six-pack abs knows that it's not a fast or easy process. Plastic surgeons have a new technique that can help people get those six-pack abs when workouts alone don't do the trick. The procedure is called abdominal etching.

Abdominal etching involves using targeted liposuction that provides a greater definition of the abdominal muscles. Dr. Tarik M. Husain, MD, FACS, of University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and colleagues have published a paper on the new procedure. Dr. Husain said that the procedure is a fast and effective method of giving men and women a "defined anterior abdominal wall."

The team used the procedure to improve the abdominal appearance in 50 patients including 26 men and 24 women with an average age of 36-years. The doctor says that the patients who were seeking the procedure were in good shape and had a healthy diet and regular exercise routines. However, they had "certain resistant areas of fat" that made it hard to get the abdominal muscle definition they wanted.

The procedure uses power-assisted liposuction to sculpt the abdominal fat in the superficial and deep layers to accent the natural six-pack lines in males and three vertical lines in females. The procedure can be modified to the desires of the patient with softer, shallower, or a harder and more defined degree of abdominal etching.

The team notes that regular follow-up is critical with the procedure as fluid collections or seromas must be treated aggressively. Patients can resume light exercise that doesn't engage the core after two weeks and more rigorous exercise in four weeks. Good results from abdominal etching have been seen for up to six years.