Do You Know The Difference Between Apron Belly vs FUPA?

Apron belly vs FUPA

People with some fat hanging down their stomach or the lower abdomen area fail to identify their conditions.

Apron belly and FUPA may appear similar, but both terms refer to a different bodily condition. There are also differences in how both conditions look like.

Apron belly makes your body look like there’s skin hanging down from the stomach. On the other hand, FUPA is a bulge of fat mass accumulating around the upper pubic bone area.

What is FUPA?

FUPA stands for Fat in the Upper Pubic Area. This condition indicates the fat that stores up in the upper pubic bone section. FUPA can happen to both men and women. It causes a bulge in the lower abdomen of someone’s body.

There are different reasons why this condition appears on someone’s body. Common reasons include rapid weight gain or rapid weight loss. Sometimes, this condition also occurs due to aging or genetic changes.

It may or may not be connected to obesity. Also, it’s possible for anyone with any body type to have FUPA. However, remember that FUPA doesn’t cause. Whether you want to reduce it is entirely up to your body’s choices.

Why Do You Experience FUPA?

The reason why someone would experience FUPA can be due to different reasons. It can happen at any age, to any gender, or any body type. However, the common reasons include –

Weight Fluctuations

You will likely develop fat in the upper abdomen when your weight fluctuates significantly. Whether you gain or lose some weight, your body will try to redistribute the fat. This will cause your body to have FUPA.

Pregnancy

Women can also experience fat in the upper abdomen after pregnancy. After pregnancy, the skin gets stretched, and fat can accumulate around the abdominal muscle or localized fat.

Aging

When someone starts to age, fat in their abdominal area starts to accumulate. The stubborn fat begins to accumulate around the abdominal area of a person’s body. This is also a common reason for aging.

Genetics

Not all the reasons are due to pregnancy or weight fluctuations. In some cases, someone’s genetics may also cause FUPA. Some people belong to a family where they normally accumulate lots of fats in their abdominal area.

Hormonal Changes

Fluctuation in hormonal levels can also cause someone to gain fat around their upper abdominal area. These fluctuations usually occur during menopause and can contribute to fat being stored around the upper abdomen.

What is Apron Belly?

Apron belly is a term applied to the condition that appears due to a sagging stomach. It causes excess skin and fatty tissues to hang down from the abdomen. In medical terms, it’s called stomach or abdominal pannus. This type of skin flap can appear on a person who’s going through excessive weight gain or significant weight loss.

It typically shouldn’t feel too difficult to handle. But, sometimes, pannus can cause skin infections and make your skin uncomfortable. You can live comfortably with a pannus stomach or surgically remove it. This will keep you physically healthy and help you eliminate stress about your appearance.

Why Does an Apron Belly Occur?

So, an apron belly or Pannus stomach results from excess skin from the abdomen.  This can happen due to different reasons. The following are the most common reasons for someone to have an apron belly.

Pregnancy

Sometimes, after women give birth, the extra skin accumulated around their waist hangs down. This is a reason very similar to what causes FUPA. This is one of the most common reasons why people also refer to this condition as a mother’s apron.

Obesity

Both men and women suffer from what we call obesity. This happens when someone gains excessive weight. This weight gain is what causes someone to gain weight around their waist.

Sometimes, obesity also adds to major causes of death and heart attack. High blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer are common reasons for this as well.

Weight loss

If someone goes through significant weight loss due to bariatric surgery, they develop a chance of having pannus. The pannus belly remains present.

The pannus belly already remains present in the human body when they are overweight and have lots of fat around their stomach.

However, when they undergo bariatric surgery, the skin starts hanging down from the waist, making it look like an apron belly.

Apron Belly vs FUPA

Both FUPA and apron belly refer to localized fat buildup in someone’s body. However, both conditions are different since the fat stores up in slightly two different places of the body. While someone having FUPA develops fat slightly above the pubic bone, the apron belly is the hanging skin. Once someone loses fat from their abdomen, the skin starts to hang from the belly, causing apron belly.

Following are the major differences and similarities between Apron belly vs FUPA –

	FUPA	Apron Belly
Locations	The location of FUPA is in the upper pubic bone of someone. It just makes the pubic bone area look bigger due to the fat build-up.	On the other hand, apron belly is the hanging skin which appears due to excessive fat loss. Also, it can extend further down the lower abdomen of someone’s body.
Appearance	FUPA is a small bulge of fat that appears on the upper pubic area of someone’s body.	Compared to FUPA, the apron belly is much larger and appears to be hanging downward.
Causes	The causes for someone having FUPA include genetics, pregnancy, weight gain, etc.	Apron belly also appears due to the causes that affect FUPA. But the only difference remains in weight loss. On top of weight gain, people also develop skin on their body, which appears to be hanging when they lose weight.
Treatment	The treatment for fat in the upper pubic area involves both surgical and nonsurgical procedures. It can also become lower due to lower fat levels in the pubic area. However, surgical methods are the most effective and quickest ways to get rid of FUPA.	This condition requires surgical treatment, including procedures like abdominoplasty, Panniculectomy, and Apronectomy. But lifestyle changes should also be included to stop fat from building up later in their lives.

Negative Impact on Appearance

Trying to treat apron belly through surgical and non-surgical treatments can leave some negative impacts on someone’s appearance. Here are some of them:

Surgical Treatment

People often take panniculectomy or a surgical option to get rid of apron belly. This process also has a negative impact on people. It can leave scars on someone’s body. The end results can cause infections, temporary numbness in the body, altered sensations in the area, and a lot more.

Sometimes, the remedy can take a toll on the person’s body, leaving them with bleeding complications, poor wound healing, and fluid accumulation under their skin, resulting in an asymmetrical body image. This can also have a mental impact on the person who gets such treatment. However, it’s best to give the healing process more time.

Non-Surgical Treatment

Through non-surgical options for apron belly, it’s possible to reduce some levels of fat. However, nonsurgical options often lack effectiveness. It can leave a patient with excess skin and provide only limited results. Sometimes, patients experience skin irritation from rubbing and may not fully recover from mobility issues.

Conclusion!

Since both body conditions are related to increased body weight, it might seem difficult to get rid of through non-surgical means. You can’t lose body fat from a specific part of your body. However, it’s important to make lifestyle changes if you want such conditions to repeat even after surgical treatment.

Hopefully, this article answers your questions. Let us know your thoughts through the comment section below. Thank you for reading.

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