Bariatric Care Center California

Weight loss surgery and body contouring are the most common and more expensive surgeries these days. Body contouring helps patient’s skin fit their new body. After a massive amount of weight loss, most patients have loose and saggy skin that can cause wounds, rashes, infection and limit comfortable mobility.

Body contouring after a significant weight loss improves the shape and tones the underlying tissues that support fat and skin and removes excess sagging fat and skin.

Typical problems that occur after a significant weight loss include:

Loss of breast volume, droopiness or breast ptosis: Most women consider breast lift after weight loss. It can be done with or without the addition of breast implants to remove the shape, cleavage and fullness. For men there are various breast reduction techniques available based on the extent of correction required.

Sagging of the facial skin: Facelift, forehead lift and eyelid surgery are the required procedures to achieve complete facial rejuvenation.

Excess abdominal skin: Tummy tuck or abdominoplasty or lower body lift is the most preferred procedure after weight loss surgery. Total lower body lift can help to contour the entire lower body such as hips, abdomen, buttocks, outer and posterior thighs.

Skin hanging under the arms: Arm lift surgery is the needed procedure to lift and tighten the skin of the arms.

Wrinkling and excessive bagginess of the thighs: A thigh lift surgery can lift the inner thighs, while a lower body lift can deal with the outer and posterior parts of the thighs.

Weight loss surgery leads to successful weight loss, after removing excess fat from the body excessive amounts of skin accumulates and the skin becomes loose and hangs in various parts like face, upper and lower abdomen, breasts, flanks, armpit, buttocks, arms, thighs, forearms, legs and calves. The excess skin causes many hygienic problems like skin irritation, skin breakdown, pain and infections. Along with these the patients also face some irregularities in the skin. The fat may not be removed evenly or the weight loss may not happen evenly.

Under all these conditions the patient needs to go for plastic surgery. Especially for the persons who has lost 100lbs or more in a short span after the weight loss surgery has sagging skin in many areas. The skin will be different for the person who has undergone the weight loss surgery when compared to a normal person. The elastic tissues are permanently damaged to a greater extent. The patient’s skin will become saggy with age. The shape of the skin can be improved but the quality cannot be improved.

Patients with excess folds of skin and who are physically healthy and physiologically stable and those who look for more youthful skin by removing the excess sagging skin are the candidates who are eligible for plastic surgery after the weight loss surgery.

Many varieties of surgical procedures are followed and are often necessary at different times depending on the areas or parts which bother you. The surgery is done based on the area which bothers you the most. Surgery is done mostly to the abdomen first, breast lifting, face lift, arm lift are done after that.

Plastic surgery should be done considerably after the person has stabilized after the weight loss surgery. In order to stabilizem, a person requires 18 months or more depending on how much weight the person has lost during the surgery. The plastic surgery should be done to tighten the skin and it should be done gradually giving a gap of at least three months between the operations.

The person may go home after two or three days after the surgery or need to stay in the hospital for two or three days based on the type of surgery the person has undergone. Pain is mild to moderate and the person can take shower on the second or third day. Swelling disappears after 6 weeks. A person who has undergone the plastic surgery can resume some of the activities in the first week and the all the activities normally after four to six weeks.

The results after plastic surgery are very high. The area which has undergone surgery will be tightened and lifted.  Touch ups and revisions are required frequently after the surgery. A person after the surgery will be more confident and can wear all types of clothes which he or she likes. The person will have more natural and good presentable appearance.