Body Contouring Surgical Procedure

Body contouring may involve one or several plastic surgery procedures. If a patient opts to have several of the procedures completed, this usually takes place in stages. It can take as long as two years to complete all of them, just as it did to lose the excess weight. The most common types of plastic surgery involved in body contouring include:

Arm Lift

It is not uncommon for massive weight loss to cause people to have a large amount of sagging skin on the upper arm. To correct this, a surgeon makes an incision starting at the underarm area and continuing to the back or inside of the upper arm. It may also be necessary to make additional incisions at other locations on the arms that contain sagging pockets due to excess skin. Although this does leave a long scar, it isn’t obvious to others unless the patient wears short-sleeved shirts and raises his or her arms.

Breast Lift

The pattern in which the surgeon makes an incision to correct a woman’s sagging breasts depends on how much excess skin she needs to have removed. An incision or a combination of incisions may go horizontally around the crease of the breast, in a line that extends from the crease of the breast to the areola, and in a circular pattern around the areola. Implants may be appropriate for some women who want to enhance the size and shape of their breasts.

Lower Body Lift

This may be done in stages with anterior done first followed by sides and back. If done as a single procedure, the patient requires an admission to the hospital the night of surgery, whereas staged procedures will most likely allow the patient to go the day of surgery.

A complete lower body lift treats the patient’s sagging abdomen, buttocks, outer thighs, hips, and waist in a single procedure. The incision patterns vary due to the amount of excess fat and the area that is treated first. In many cases, the surgeon opts to make an incision around the circumference of the body to remove what appears as a belt of excess fat and skin.

Thigh Lift

To reshape the thighs, the surgeon makes an incision from the groin area that extends downwards to the knee and along the innermost portion of the thigh. Improving the contours of the outer thigh requires the surgeon to make an incision starting at the groin and ending at the hip. This tightens the tissues to create thighs that are smoother and firmer.