Plastic Surgery after Massive Weight Loss

For those who’ve struggled to lose a significant amount of weight, the end result may have its unfortunate side: excess skin that no amount of diet or exercise can affect. This unsightly and uncomfortable result may shed a negative light on your well-deserved success. You may be considering surgical remedy. Talk to Dr. Peters about your individual concerns, goals and body image ideal. You’ve worked so hard to get to this point – make it the best it can be.

The recognition of health risks attached to obesity has encouraged many to take control of their physical condition with weight reduction either by diet and exercise or by surgery. Large losses of weight are hard work no matter what method is used to accomplish this goal.

After massive weight loss, skin elasticity may be destroyed, leaving a flood of excess skin. No amount of diet or exercise will cause the folds of skin to disappear. Often all the hard work of weight loss feels incomplete until the extras skin is excised. The skin laxity may leave breasts deflated and saggy, leave folds of overhanging skin in the abdomen, arms or legs, and may lead to jowls or a “turkey neck” obscuring the underlying bone structure.

Patients should consider their body contouring goals when choosing which features to correct first as it may take several surgeries to maximize the potential change. Often, two or three areas can be addressed at once, as long as the surgery time is kept to safe limits (five to six hours). The best candidates have stable weight, a favorable Body Mass Index (BMI) (preferably less than 30) and are in good nutritional balance. It is also important to be in a good psychological space so as to have frustration tolerance for the recovery and the capacity to enjoy the profound body changes of weight loss and restorative surgery. All of these factors will be discussed and considered carefully in your consultations
with Dr. Peters.