Body Contouring After Weight Loss

Congratulations! You’ve lost a significant amount of weight, and you’ve maintained your target for a while now. You’re healthier, and some of the health issues you had as a result of being heavy, like diabetes, sleep apnea and hypertension, have disappeared.

But, you’re still uncomfortable, bothered by what you see. No matter how much you work out, you have a significant amount of extra skin that isn’t getting tighter or firmer. Even though your body is physically smaller, your skin and tissues may now lack the elasticity to conform to your smaller size. Body contouring can help eliminate the excess hanging skin and make you want to show off your tighter shape.

Dr. Spittler Addresses Options Following Weight Loss

What is body contouring after weight loss?

Body contouring after weight loss is a single procedure that combines several surgeries. The goal of body contouring is to remove extra tissue, to tighten your skin, enhance your muscles, and contour areas like your arms, buttocks, thighs and abdomen. Working with one of our board-certified plastic surgeons, you’ll choose the procedures to help you best meet your goals. Those procedures can include:

• Tummy Tuck: Also called abdominoplasty, a tummy tuck enhances the appearance of your waist and abdomen and gives you a tighter, flatter tummy by removing the excess skin from the stomach and surrounding areas and tightening the underlying abdominal muscles. We can also perform a partial abdominoplasty, removing the excess skin bellow your belly button but not tightening the muscles underneath.
• Liposuction: Liposuction removes the stubborn fat that remains in and around your abdomen, waist, and thighs, no matter how much you diet and exercise. Good candidates for the procedure usually have fairly good skin tone and distinct areas of fat.
• Facelift: When you lose a lot of weight, even the skin on your face can become loose and saggy. A facelift, often paired with a neck lift, removes that extra skin and tightens the underlying tissue, for a more pleasing neck contour and a more youthful appearance.
• Breast lift: You might notice that your breasts are sagging and have lost their shape. These are common complaints heard after significant weight loss. A breast lift can remove the extra skin that remains. For those whose breasts have lost a significant amount of volume, we can provide a fuller look with a breast augmentation.
• Arm lift: An arm lift, or brachioplasty, restores the shape and contour of your arms. In this procedure, we make an incision on the inside of the arm between the elbow and the armpit and remove the extra skin and tissue.
• Thigh Lift: We offer several procedures to address the loose skin on your thighs, particularly the inner thigh. The most common is the medial thigh lift, which removes the excess skin and unwanted fat on the upper part of your inner thigh, making it tighter and more sculpted.

Your Annapolis Consultation for Body Contouring after Weight Loss

With so many options, it can be confusing to know exactly what’s best for your body contouring goals. Your first step should be a consultation with one of our surgeons at our main office in Annapolis or one of our one satellite offices in Easton or Prince Frederick.

During the consultation in one of our comfortable exam rooms, the doctor will review your goals and your medical history. You’ll discuss things like:

• Your goals: why do you want the surgery and what outcome are you hoping for?
• Your medical history and your lifestyle. You’ll talk about things like:
  • Are you taking any prescription or nonprescription drugs and/or herbal supplements?
  • Do you smoke?
  • Have you had any previous surgeries?
• Your body. The doctor will examine, measure and evaluate the areas that could benefit from body contouring.
• The procedure. You’ll have time to ask whatever you need. We recommend writing down your questions, so you won’t forget anything.

Understanding the Body Contouring Procedure

Body contouring surgery typically includes multiple procedures, which means it can take several hours. We perform this outpatient surgery under general anesthesia in in our fully accredited, state-of-the-art, ambulatory surgery center in Annapolis. The specifics of the surgery will be determined by the procedures we’re doing.

Dr. Spittler discusses a tummy tuck procedure.

After your body contouring procedure:  Recovery and Results

Your specific procedures will determine your recovery. You may go home with a snug dressing and elastic girdle over your abdomen, to help the skin conform smoothly to the shape of the underlying tissue. We may also recommend wearing support garments for two to three weeks. If you have a breast lift with or without breast augmentation, you’ll leave with a light dressing and a support bra to support your breasts while you recover. A facelift could mean you’ll have a dressing around your head.

Your recovery will take several weeks, and during that time you’ll probably be sore, bruised and a bit swollen. Some of your swelling may seem like it’s not going away, but it will. You’ll see some of the changes immediately, but you won’t see the full results until all the swelling had gone away. The waiting will be well worth it.

Scars can take some time to heal. Where possible, our surgeons will hide the incisions. The results of body contouring are long-lasting, as long as you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

What are the risks of body contouring after weight loss?

As with most surgical procedures, you may have several days of discomfort, but that should be easily controlled with medication prescribed by your doctor. Your surgeon will give you a list of post-operative instructions, which you should follow closely during your recovery.

The only way to know for sure if you’re a candidate for body contouring is to speak to a board-certified plastic surgeon. Contact us to schedule a consultation with one of our surgeons, to get the information you need to decide if body contouring will provide the results you want after losing a significant amount of weight.