If you’re like most of us this time of year, you’re probably entering the year 2023 with the motto – “New Year, New Me”!
Whether you’re still working on your 2022 weight loss goal and are looking to add the finishing touches, or you are starting your new journey this 2023 – body contouring can help you reach your goals and keep you motivated. Shedding excess weight, whether by diet and exercise or gastric bypass surgery, improves your health as well as your appearance!
Nevertheless, major weight loss can result in excess skin and stubborn pockets of fat that no amount of exercise or dietary changes can alleviate. For this, body contouring procedures can help eliminate the excess skin while sculpting your curves, giving you your desired appearance, improving your motivation to keep the weight off, and giving you the self-confidence that you deserve!
Body Contouring Procedures: Your Options
Whether you are working to remove and/or tighten excess skin or need help to repair stretched and lax muscles due to years of excessive weight, there are a variety of different surgical body contouring procedures available.
Read on to learn more about body contouring procedures available to you:
Tummy Tuck
A firm, flat abdomen is often seen to reflect a person’s level health and fitness, however that is not always the case. Whether you have undergone a weight loss journey, or are experiencing the aftermath of childbirth – it is likely that you have loose skin, excess fat, or even stretch marks.
In some cases, diastasis recti occur in the abdomen. This process entails the separation, whether partial or complete, of the rectus abdominis, otherwise known as the “six-pack” muscles, which meet at the midline of your stomach as pictured below.
Rest assured that an abdominoplasty, otherwise known as a tummy tuck, can effectively treat this. This procedure can remove excess abdominal skin as well as help to internally repair stretched and lax abdominal muscles.
Breast Lift and Augmentation
The appearance of your breasts can be affected by multiple factors such as pregnancy, nursing, weight changes, or just the natural aging process. A breast lift can improve sagging tissue while augmentation can increase your bust line and breast appearance. During a breast lift procedure, our board-certified plastic surgeon lift and reshape the breasts by removing stretched skin, excess fat, and tissue. Through breast surgery, breast size can be evened out and the areolas can be reshaped as well, if desired. Furthermore, a breast lift can entail the placement of internal sutures to retain the rejuvenated breast shape and secure the breasts higher on the chest.
Thigh Lift
Excess skin or fat in the thigh area can cause discomfort including thigh chafing. Excess fat causes the tissues that normally give your skin strength and resilience to consequently over stretch and droop or sage. After you lose weight, this tissue and skin is unable to retract and tighten on its own, which leaves you with extra, sagging skin. A thigh lift procedure addresses sagging and excess skin on the inner thighs. It can help remove excess skin and fat, diminish cellulite, and better proportionate your body.
Arm Lift
Like a thigh lift, a brachioplasty, otherwise known as an arm lift, addresses excess, sagging skin and tissue in the arms. Excess fat or skin in the arms can limit your activity, as well as limit your clothing choices. The benefits of an arm lift procedure include the elimination of excess skin and fat, less noticeable scars, and an increase in confidence.
Facelift
As you age or lose weight, you may experience sagging in the mid-face, jowls, and neck. Your face is the first area to show sign of aging and wrinkles, creases, and sagging skin make many people look older than they feel. Facelifts after weight loss can address these issues by removing excess skin, giving you a younger, more defined look with no noticeable scarring.
Body Lift
Body lift surgery is meant specifically for patients who have lost a considerable amount of weight and subsequently left with excess skin. When it comes to loose or sagging skin, there are no diet plans or exercise routines that can tighten the skin or remove most of the excess fat deposits that have settled in these unwanted areas. However, a lower body lift for example, can address excess skin and sagging in the abdomen, buttocks, and inner and outer thighs by surgically and permanently removing the excess fat and skin from areas that can otherwise be resistant to diet and exercise.
What to Consider Before Body Contouring Surgery
After working so hard to shed the excess pounds, you may be extremely excited to jump into body contouring surgery are start the process of eliminating your excess skin to complete your weight loss journey. You’ve done all the work, and you’re almost there! Before you take such an important step, however, it is important to note the following factors that can affect your results and aesthetic goals.
Your Body Weight
If you are considering body contouring surgery, our board-certified plastic surgeons recommend that you be at or near your ideal body weight. If you plan to continue your weight loss journey or hope to lose more weight in the future, it is best to hold off on surgical body contouring. This is due to the fact that additional weight loss after at any time can result in additional excess skin. If the weight loss occurs after your surgical procedure, then the need for additional procedures would subsequently arise.
Future Weigh Gain
Before moving forward with body contouring surgery, you should ensure that your weight loss remains stable. Whether you have shed under 100 pounds or over 200, it is important to note that weight loss can fluctuate. Often, keeping the weight off is the hardest part of your weight loss journey. Before you are deemed a good candidate for body contouring surgery, you must ensure that you are able to maintain your weight loss for long periods of time and show weight stabilization.
Your Health
Your safety is of utmost importance, and for this reason our board-certified plastic surgeons must ensure that you are healthy enough for surgery. If you have undergone your weight loss journey through changes to your diet and exercise, then chances are that you are already following a healthy diet and lifestyle. If you lost weight through gastric bypass surgery, then the safest route would be to take the necessary amount of time to adjust to your new dietary restrictions, as well as make sure you are meeting all of your nutritional needs before surgery. At Synergy Plastic Surgery, our board-certified plastic surgeons put your safety above all, and ensure that the proper medical clearances are obtained before clearing you to move forward with surgery.
Lastly, if you are a smoker, you will be advised to stop smoking as this can impair healing and recovery.
Added Benefits of Body Contouring
As explained above, body contouring procedures address physical concerns such as the removal of excess skin and the repair of stretched muscles. However, they do far more than that. Now that you are nearing the end of your weight loss journey, the excess and loose skin that you are left with after all of the work you put it can create a different set of concerns. Although you should be celebratory and proud of successfully accomplishing your goals, this excess skin and tissue may leave you feeling self-conscious or even uncomfortable.
Many patients, such as Suzie, who have lost substantial amounts of excess fat often describe discomfort due to their excess skin. It can interfere with normal daily life and activity, such as the exercise that is necessary to maintain your new weight loss. As previously mentioned, excess skin can limit your wardrobe options and adversely affect your confidence. In some cases, excess sagging skin can also become prone to ulcers and infections for some. To remedy this, body contouring procedures remove this excess skin permanently, ultimately reducing the the risk of infection and allowing you to get back to enjoying life!
What is your next step?
Once you meet the criteria for body contouring surgery, your next step is to consult with one of our board-certified plastic surgeons! At Synergy Plastic Surgery, our board-certified plastic surgeons proudly offer a variety of body contouring procedures. Together, you and your plastic surgeon will determine which procedures will help you achieve your contouring goals and put a surgical plan in action that meets your aesthetic goals!
Call (512) 244-1444 to schedule your complimentary consultation and unlock your Synergy Experience today!
Leave a Reply