It takes a great deal of discipline and hard work to lose a lot of weight so congratulate yourself on the achievement. But this may not be where your journey ends. Major weight loss can leave you with skin that has lost its elasticity or a lot of loose skin.
After such a great achievement, excess skin can make life difficult. Apart from the health issues, such as skin rashes and infection from moisture collecting between the folds, loose skin can make you uncomfortable and self-conscious. It may rub on your clothes resulting in skin tears or cause daily discomfort. No matter how much you exercise or diet, you cannot reduce the loose skin your weight loss has let you with.
But there is a solution—body contouring surgery.
What is body contouring surgery?
Any excessive skin left behind from major weight loss is not going to go away without help. No amount of exercise or dieting will reduce it or the way it affects your life. Body contouring surgery after weight loss is a possible solution. It involves the removal of excessive skin and remaining fat to improve your body definition and skin tone.
There is no one particular procedure. Everyone is different. How much excessive skin you have after weight loss will be different from person to person. You may need several surgeries to reduce it if it is causing you problems.
Your specialist plastic surgeon will assess you to determine the best solutions to get the result you need. Dr Steve Merten assesses where you carry the excess skin, your stature, body type and determine the best way to get the outcome you want.
Areas of the body suitable for body contouring surgery
Almost all parts of your body can have body contouring surgery. There are several types of surgery commonly performed to get good results.
Abdominoplasty or tummy tuck
During a tummy tuck your specialist plastic surgeon removes excess fat and skin from your lower abdomen to reshape and tighten the area.
Truncoplasty and belt lipectomy or body lift
A body lift can take several hours and removes excess fat and skin from the top of your buttocks, lower abdomen, hips, waist, lower back and upper outer thighs. Although these operations require more extensive scars, they allow more dramatic skin removal and more definitive contouring of the area. Your specialist plastic surgeon will discuss how much excess skin they can remove and how many surgeries it will take to get a good outcome.
Medial thigh lift
A medial thigh lift tightens and contours your inner thighs by removing excess fat and skin.
Brachioplasty or upper arm lift
When you have excess skin hanging from your upper arms, an upper arm lift can remove it. How much skin your specialist plastic surgeon removes depends on you. The result dramatically improves the skin on your upper arms so it is smoother and tighter.
Mastopexy or breast lift
A breast lift reshapes your breasts by removing the excess skin to raise them without the use of implants.
Problems excessive skin causes
Contrary to what many people think, the removal of excess skin is not just for aesthetic reasons. The problem is that it can negatively affect your quality of life, for example it can:
- Inhibit good hygiene
- Hinder mobility
- Cause problems such as ongoing infections, sores and rashes
- Make it difficult to get dressed and be a hindrance in other daily activities.
Also excessive skin can get in the way of enjoying the positive change that losing large amounts of weight should bring. Removing it helps to reflect the new positive image you want from losing so much weight.
Benefits of body contouring
Being left with excessive skin across different parts of you body after achieving significant weight loss will not give you the results you expected. So the body contouring benefits are great and include:
- Increasing satisfaction after losing weight.Being left with excessive skin after weight loss can be a constant reminder of the struggle you went through. It also does not leave you with a good body image. Body contouring reshapes and creates a toned body that may give you more confidence. This confidence boost will increase your satisfaction weight loss and have a positive effect on all areas of your life.
- Helps you keep the weight off.Body contouring removes any excess skin that hinders your mobility after significant weight loss. This skin can be embarrassing and frustrating which can decrease you motivation to continue your exercise routine. With it removed, it may restore your confidence as it is easier to move. This may increase your motivation to maintain your weight loss.
- Improves your body shape.When you lose a lot of weight you can be left with a lot of loose skin around your arms, abdomen, thighs, neck, buttocks, back and face. This occurs because carrying extra weight stretches the skin for a long period of time so it sags and loses its elasticity when you lose the weight. There are different body contouring procedures that can improve your body shape.
- Helps you feel better about yourself.A lot of sagging skin left behind after major weight loss may leave you feeling not so good about yourself. By having it removed it can make you feel better about yourself, improve your wellbeing and quality of life.
Pure Aesthetics has specialist plastic surgeons in body contouring surgery Sydney. Contact us to book an initial consultation today and discover if surgery is a good solution for you. If your body contouring surgery is medically necessary, you may be eligible for a rebate from your health fund or Medicare.
