Body Contouring After Major Weight Loss
After all of the hard work that accompanies any amount of weight loss, self-confidence and motivation can hit all-time highs. However, when a significant amount of weight is lost, one can be left with excess skin that no amount of diet and exercise can noticeably change. Board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Franklyn Elliott helps patients on their road to reaching cosmetic goals by performing various body contouring procedures to remove the excess, leaving behind a beautiful, contoured body.
People gain weight for countless reasons, including stress, overeating, disorders, and pregnancy. While gaining weight is no challenge for many, losing weight is battle that requires time, energy, and a lot of planning. Incorporating body contouring at the end of your transformation can help produce the results you desire tailored to specific, hard to shape body areas.
A common post-weight loss and/ or post-bariatric procedure Dr. Elliott performs is the tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), which addresses excess skin, fat, and weakened abdominal muscles. This procedure is also frequently performed on women who have had children, which can stretch both skin and muscles of the abdominal area. For mothers, abdominoplasty can be combined with breast augmentation or lift and liposuction of the hips and/or flanks (waistline) for mommy makeover surgery, which targets the areas most affected by pregnancy. After dramatic weight loss, patients often have excess skin around the waistline that is unresponsive to exercise and diet. While traditional abdominoplasty focuses solely on the abdominal area, belt lipectomy is a type of abdominoplasty which extends completely around the waist, removing excess tissue from this area to re-contour the waist and create a more proportionate appearance.
For women who have lost a significant amount of fat, breast drooping can occur. This can be treated by a breast lift, which can be performed with or without a breast implant to achieve sought after results. If a patient has enough breast tissue, the procedure can produce the desired appearance without the use of a silicone or saline implant. Men can also undergo a similar male breast reduction procedure to reduce excess skin in the chest area.
Weight loss can also result in hanging skin on the thighs as a result of skin stretching beyond its elastic restriction ability during weight gain. The thighplasty procedure is beneficial to post-weight loss patients along with those who, despite intense efforts, cannot decrease the size and shape of thighs. The procedure defines a tighter leg with a toned appearance and can target inner or outer thighs. A similar procedure can be performed on the arms, where loose skin is common after an individual loses a lot of weight. Arm lifts (brachioplasty) can be done with skin removal alone or in combination with liposuction.
Dr. Elliott works hard to ensure scars are as minimal as possible and recovery is smooth. Please contact us to make an appointment for a consultation with Dr. Elliott to discuss your body contouring goals. He can address your needs directly with a combination of any of the above procedures, or by performing them individually. To learn more about the procedures Dr. Elliott performs, please visit his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Google +.