Refine Your Body Contours with Plastic Surgery for Loose Skin

Weight loss can bring joy and a feeling of achievement. Losing those extra pounds can be the most exciting transformation in an individual’s life, but because the excess skin doesn’t go away when the weight goes away, patients are often distressed at the flabbiness that remains. The sagging folds of extra skin and tissue can interfere with your confidence level with your new body.

Yes, it is true. The person who just lost weight feels great about him or herself, but the sagging folds of extra skin can interfere with their happiness.

The goal of Plastic Surgery for Loose Skin is not only about removing excess skin; a plastic surgeon skilled at contouring the body after a major weight loss also “molds” the affected areas of the body, creating the most appealing contours possible.

As the plastic surgeon rids the body of the excess skin, he shapes the body at the same time through a process called “Body Contouring,” tightening up muscles which have gone lax due to the overweight burden (particularly in the abdomen) and re-adjusting contours (such as breasts) where appropriate.

Post weight loss plastic surgery is often required because, while the body was overweight, the skin grew bigger and also stretched to accommodate the extra weight, particularly if the person has been overweight since childhood, when more skin cells formed to accommodate the weight. The skin is composed of many layers. When the weight is lost, the skin remains as big as it always was, but there is nothing inside it to fill it out causing everything to sag.

Depending on the amount of weight you have lost and your individual desired results, body contouring following significant weight loss may need more than one surgery to reach your goal, and might be done in stages with the areas of greatest concern being addressed first. Some procedures might be combined with liposuction to gain further contouring of the body. The most common post weight loss plastic surgeries include:

A belt lipectomy is a surgery performed to remove the excess folds of skin or fat deposition around the waist or belt line, buttocks and thighs and reshape them. A belt lipectomy is a combination of abdominoplasty with circumferential excision of fat. Brachioplasty, or 'arm lift' surgery, reshapes the underside of the upper arm from the armpit to the elbow. The medical procedure removes extra skin and fat to give a more toned and balanced appearance.

Upper arm skin hangs with age, after major weight loss, and for people with lymphedema. Exercise may strengthen and improve the underlying muscle tone of the upper arm, but it cannot change any extra skin that has lost its elasticity.

A thigh lift is a surgical procedure that involves the removal of excess skin and fat deposits to enhance the contours of thighs and legs.

So if you have recently lost an exceptional amount of weight, then consider Plastic Surgery for Loose Skin to refine your body contours.

About This Author

Southern Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Joined: December 26th, 2019