Former college football player ready for big day with help from local doctor

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – A Northeast Mississippi doctor is the first in the southeast to use a new technology for cosmetic surgery that reduces scarring and recovery time.

In January, Jake Alexander, 28, traveled to Tupelo from his Oklahoma home, for a cosmetic surgery procedure with Doctor Mark Craig.

Jake was an offensive lineman with the University of Tulsa. When his college football career ended, he lost nearly 100 pounds, but couldn’t lose excess skin around his lower abdomen.

He found out about a minimally invasive technique performed by Doctor Craig.

“Started looking around who I wanted to get it done by and I saw Doctor Craig was one of the first in the United States to actually get it, so I thought, why don’t I hop on a plane and fly down here, it worked out well,” said Alexander.

BodyTite utilizes Radio Frequency Assisted Liposuction technology to melt fat, causing it to go away. The procedure tightens and lifts skin, without using a scalpel.

Jake’s procedure took about an hour, and he was headed home the next day.

Two months later the difference is clear.

Jake’s skin will continue to tighten for up to twelve months and Doctor Craig said the minimally invasive procedure can be used on all parts of the body with smaller hand-pieces available for surgeons.

While Doctor Craig’s clientele is predominately female, he is seeing more men come in for procedures.

“We see more and more men coming in for their eyes, face and jaw area, chest, abdomen, love handles area, so we’ve done men in all those areas, and we’re seeing that kind of pickup, people are looking and saying it’s ok for me to do this, again, if I could do this procedure on myself, I would do it, on myself, but it’s kind of hard,” said Dr. Craig.

Doctor Craig also points out that a healthy diet and regular exercise are important after any procedure to help maintain the desired results.

And for Jake, he’s looking especially forward to his June wedding with his longtime finance’ and all of those photos from the special day.

Doctor Craig has performed more than 200 “BodyTite” procedures since the technology became available about two years ago.