Body Contouring Surgery After Large Amounts of Weight Loss

Body Contouring Surgery After Large Amounts of Weight Loss

In large weight loss patients, through bariatric surgery or from their own dieting program, excess skin is almost always left behind. If the excess skin is considerable, this results in a 'new' problem. The body may be smaller, but the large folds of skin cause problems of personal embarrassment, the need to still buy larger clothing, and the potential for problems of skin irritation, rashes, or infections from the overhanging heavy skin. Unfortunately, the very process that got you to this point will not get rid of loose skin. No amount of dieting, exercise, or wishful thinking will make the skin snap back into place or make it go away. This is a surgical problem that is best addressed with body contouring surgery.

Reshaping the body after weight loss are plastic surgery procedures that are specifically designed to remove excess skin and fat and reshape specific body areas. Body contouring surgery can remove large amounts of sagging skin and fat that are often dramatic in size. While the removed pieces may look large, they often weigh a lot less than you would think. Think of body contouring surgery as restoring shape and contour to certain areas of the body rather than any more significant weight loss. These surgical procedures will not only remove excess skin but will tighten areas as well. Almost every body contouring surgery is about the actual excision (cutting out) of loose tissue, liposuction (fat removal only) actually plays a very minor role in this type of plastic surgery although it is occasionally used.

While body contouring surgery can produce some dramatic changes that can improve your physical and psychological health, there is a trade-off. That being of scars. Every body contouring surgery results in significant scarring...that is the long-term price that you must pay. I have yet to find a large weight loss patient who balks at that trade-off but remember you are trading off one problem for another.....excess skin and fat for scars. So be certain that this trade-off is a good one. If one is highly concerned about a lot of scarring, then body contouring surgery may not be for you. Body contouring surgery is unique from pure cosmetic body contouring in that the goals are to make you look good in clothes...not to be critically judged out of them.