Problem Body Area Lingo

If you research plastic surgery procedures on the web, then you might come across some pretty strange-sounding terms for the body. These are not terms of endearment, however. They’re slang terms that women use to describe trouble areas that they want to have altered. So if you are scratching your head and wondering what they mean, here is a cheat sheet for the most popular ones and how they are typically corrected with a cosmetic procedure.

Banana Roll
Not to be confused with the Chinese pastry, banana rolls exist just under the buttocks. They are rolls of excess fat that are hard to spot treat with exercise and therefore are generally removed with liposuction. Fortunately, this area responds very well to both laser and standard liposuction. Your doctor may suggest wearing compression garments afterwards for better results.

Wings
These wings are not for flying. The term refers to the loose skin hanging under the arm between the shoulder and the elbow. It is a reference to women raising their arms, in an instance such as winning bingo. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), an arm lift can help to remove excess skin and fat from the arm.

Bra Bulge
Sometimes created by a tight-fitting bra, this is the small handful of fat under the armpits that falls out over the top of the bra. It can be treated with liposuction. With today’s laser-assisted liposuction technology, fat can be gently emulsified and removed while tightening the skin for a more improved result.

Muffin Top
It may be the best part of a muffin, but it’s certainly not the best part of the body. This term refers to the roll of fat that bulges out over your pants. It can be treated though weight loss by way of diet and exercise, and surgically removed with liposuction and/or a tummy tuck if there is excess loose skin as a result of removing the fat. Reno, NV, plastic surgeon Tiffany McCormack, MD, says CoolSculpting, or freezing the fat, is also used to remove this trouble area.

Waddle
The “turkey neck” or waddle is a commonly talked about area as most women get it as they age. It refers to the loose skin underneath the chin that hangs down over the neck, said to resemble the red skin underneath the neck of a turkey. It can be treated a couple of ways according to Great Neck, NY, facial plastic surgeon Andrew Jacono, MD. “With a neck lift, which is actually a face lifting procedure. We can also use Ultherapy (a non-invasive device that uses focused ultrasound energy to lift the skin on the face and neck). It’s a new treatment that is about 30 percent effective. It tightens, but doesn’t treat the problem entirely.”