Surgery after Weight Loss (Body Contouring)
Goals of Body Contouring
Surgery after Weight Loss (Body contouring) removes prominent skin folds and fat that cause people to feel uncomfortable in participating in social activities, or wearing swimsuits and sportswear. People have generally reached a stable weight while eating right and exercising more, and individuals may have lost significant weight, but some areas, such as the abdomen, hips, thighs, legs and arms, and head and neck region, especially after pregnancy, may remain with skin folds and excess fat. Body contouring may help individuals boost their appearance and improve their quality of life while improving their physical and emotional conditions.
Body contouring includes surgical procedures such as tummy tuck, arm lift, thigh lift, lower body lift, facelift, breast lift/augmentation, and liposuction that can be done independently or in various combinations.
In all body contouring procedures detailed consultation and understanding is the key to reach the best patient satisfaction.
Tummy Tuck (abdominoplasty)
Tummy tuck is a body contouring plastic surgery procedure intended to improve the shape of your tummy. This is usually achieved by removing excess skin and fat from the abdomen and tightening the abdominal skin and also the abdominal wall muscles depending on your anatomy. This procedure is usually intended to help those who have lost a lot of weight or those who had multiple pregnancies and are suffering from protruding abs that do not disappear by diet or exercise due to loss of skin laxity and/or muscle over stretching. A Tummy tuck can give you a smaller waistline, firmer abs and a flatter abdomen.
Arm Lift (brachioplasty)
Arm lift is a body contouring plastic surgery procedure intended to reshape the bottom portion of the upper arm, from the underarm region to the elbow.
Massive weight loss, aging, and sometimes heredity may give a sagging upper arm appearance. Loss of skin elasticity and localized fat deposits cannot be corrected by exercising. All these arm problems can be addressed by an arm lift, in order to gain a tighter firmer upper arm appearance.
After having an arm lift you may not have to wear long sleeves to hide your arms anymore, and you may be able to enjoy exercising and even wear swimsuits.
Liposuction
Liposuction is a cosmetic plastic surgical procedure that sculpts and shapes the contours of the body by removing fat deposits from under the skin using a vacuum-suction cannula (a hollow pen-like instrument).
For the best results, the skin covering the area of intended fat removal should be quite elastic in order to compensate for the volume loss and to redrape tightly.
Liposuction is intended to remove localized fat deposits on the abdomen, hips, thighs, calves, arms, buttocks, back, neck, or face. Liposuction can be performed on more than one site in the same setting. Liposuction is not intended to for weight loss instead of dieting and exercising. If you think you have localized stubborn fat sacs that do not respond to diet and exercise, we are here at BIDMC to help you to get rid of this potentially unattractive fat localization and make you feel and look better.
Thigh lift
Thigh lift is a cosmetic plastic surgical procedure that is intended to reshape the thighs by reducing excess skin, and in some cases fat, resulting in smoother skin and better-proportioned contours of the thighs and lower body decreasing the sagging or drooping in the inner or outer thigh.
If diet and exercise did not achieve your goal of a youthful, firmer thigh a surgical thigh lift may do it for you. The best candidates for thigh lifts are people with excess skin and soft tissue along the inner thigh region and/or the outer thigh whose weight has been relatively stabilized. Thigh lift in combination with liposuction can help those patients with inelastic skin to have attractive firmer thighs. Thigh lift surgery is usually done through incisions in the groin that may extend around the back of the thigh for an inner thigh lift, or you may be a candidate for a minimal incision medial thigh lift where the incision is hidden in the groin. The surgery involves excision of excess skin and tissues, reshaping and tightening the skin giving you the firmer and younger contour.
In contrast, an outer thigh lift that is intended to improve the contour of the outer shape, the groin incision in extended around the hip. This incision may be long but we use carefully planned incisions that ultimately are usually in well hidden places.
Lower body lift
Lower body lift is a plastic surgical procedure that tightens the thighs and the buttocks by removing excess skin and tissues from the outside hip and inner thigh.
If you are suffering from loose sagging lower body skin with sizeable amount of stubborn fat that is not responding to dieting and exercising, leading to sagging buttocks, thighs and flanks that can distort the contour of your body, you may be a good candidate for lower body lift surgery.
A lower body lift is done through an incision that follows the bikini/boxers line around the entire body. Usually a generous portion of redundant skin and underlying tissues are removed. Although the scar is long it usually heals well and can be covered by most clothing and swimsuits.
Breast surgery (both male and female)
Female
After weight loss, the breasts may have a deflated or sagging appearance. Using the existing skin and fat locally or implants, the breasts may be made to have a fuller appearance while repositioning the nipple-areolar region to a higher position
Male
After weight loss, the breasts may also be deflated with excess skin and fat. Breast surgery after weight loss in males repositions the nipple area and removes the excess skin.
