North Mississippi doctor offers minimally invasive body contouring

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – A Northeast Mississippi cosmetic surgeon has helped introduce a procedure that’s called a breakthrough in body contouring.

Through his high school and college years, Jake Alexander was known as a standout offensive lineman, playing for the University of Tulsa.

After graduation, Alexander entered the world of sales, lost nearly 100 pounds, but struggled with one area.

“For me, it was the abdomen,” said Alexander.

The 28-year-old will be married in June, and wanted to look his best for those wedding photos.

So after doing some research, he found himself in Tupelo on a cold January morning, meeting with Doctor Mark Craig, before a body contouring procedure.

Doctor Craig will do a minimally invasive procedure called “BodyTite.”

“It is a radio frequency assisted lipolysis, so what we do is go in and kind of melt the fat, it will cause fat to go away, do a combination of liposuction on his abdomen,” said Dr. Craig.

The procedure will tighten and lift Jake’s skin, without using a scalpel, and with no large, visible scarring. Also, recovery time is brief and the skin continues to tighten for up to six months.

“With regular liposuction, you get about eight to 12 percent skin tightening in a year, with this we get about 25 to 45 percent range, so we will give him a much better shape, much better contour, so I think it’s a huge advance in body contouring that we’re seeing,” said Dr. Craig.

And while Jake never thought he would be a candidate for a cosmetic procedure, he found out the radio frequency technology was the right fit.

“I like to make the joke, when I was a kid, I was a tee shirt swimmer, I was the bigger guy, which wasn’t a problem, but as soon as you’re done to playing ball as an offensive lineman, you go from being, oh, that’s a big guy, he must play football, to, oh, he’s a big guy, right?,” said Alexander.

Jake planned on resuming normal work activities right away,  and back to his workout routine about a week after the procedure.

Wednesday, WCBI’s Allie Martin will see how Jake’s recovery has progressed and we will talk more with Doctor Craig about the technology.