Cosmetic Surgery After Major Weightloss
Cosmetic surgey after massive weight loss (post-bariatric surgery) is a new and exciting field. This type of surgery is aimed at anyone who has lost stones worth of weight, leaving them with baggy loose skin on their bodies. They may have lost the weight through dieting, or nowadays it is more common to have had a gastric band or surgical bypass.
Cosmetic surgery after weight loss is a unique area of plastic surgery involving multiple procedures, many carried out at the same time, to tighten and re-contour the new body.
Can anyone have cosmetic surgery after weightloss?
Anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight may be a candidate for this type of surgery. The procedures can be tailored to a particular area of the body you do not like, or a more extensive procedure carried out to tackle different areas all at the same time.
Many patients after massive weight loss feel they look good in clothes but do not have the definition in their figures to feel confident in wearing tight fitting clothes, and become embarrassed of taking their clothes off for fear of their folds of extra skin.
What are the areas that can be corrected?
The following are just some of the areas that can be corrected:
Tummy tuck: Abdominoplasty to tighten the extra skin on the abdomen
Breast lift: Patients are frequently left with saggy empty breasts which can be either uplifted, augmented or a combination
Arm lift: Can be used to correct the loose skin dangling from the upper arms
Liposuction: Sometimes some areas respond better to weight loss than others and liposuction can be used to give a more even contour.
Thigh Lift: This can be used to correct flabby thighs which rub together. Frequently it is best done in combination with liposuction
Face lift: Can be carried out to lift the sagging face and improve your apparent age
Lower body lift: This is a more major operation aimed at lifting the thighs, buttocks and abdomen all at the same time
What are the results like?
In most cases a dramatic improvement in the skin laxity can be achieved. However, it is rarely possible to get the results possible in a patient who was never over weight. Some areas will remain quite loose and are difficult to improve, whereas others will do very well. It is important to remember that if weight is put back on again the improvements from your Surgery will be rapidly lost.
Due to the amount of skin which must be removed it is inevitable that you will be left with long scars, however these will be hidden these as much as possible. These long scars quite often will tend to stretch and may remain red.
What complications can occur?
Complication rates tend to increase with increasing weight. These include bleeding, infection, wound healing problems and fluid collections. In very large patients more dangerous complications may occur and these will be explained to you during your consultation.
Smoking in patients who have had massive weight loss almost always leads to wound healing problems and you should try to stop smoking for 6 weeks before and after your procedure: the operation may not be carried out if the risk to you is felt to be too great.
What is the recovery like?
This depends on the size of operation you elect for and may be relatively quick for a breast lift or quite protracted in the case of a lower body lift.
Your new look
The reasons for patients embarking on surgery after massive weight loss tend to be very personal. Many feel they have made such a sacrifice undergoing the gastric banding that they owe it to themselves to undergo the final stages of achieving their new body. Many patients feel better within themselves after surgery and this is the most rewarding part of this type of surgery.
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