Tighten Sagging Skin After Weight Loss with Post-Bariatric Body Contouring

Losing a lot of weight can seem like the beginning of a new life. However, when you still have folds of loose skin left over, and your body doesn't look like you had hoped, you may feel as though all you have been through has been for nothing. Fortunately, at the Institute for Post-Bariatric Body Contouring, we can tighten sagging skin after weight loss and give you the body contour you have been seeking and help you get back to the healthy lifestyle you desire.

Sagging Skin After Weight Loss

When a person is morbidly obese, his or her skin naturally stretches to accommodate the extra fat. When skin is stretched to its extreme in this manner, it becomes damaged. Overstretched skin loses its elasticity, which is what allows it to maintain its tone and tightness. Thus, when a person loses a massive amount of weight, the damaged skin does not conform to the new shape of the person's body. This can result in significant amounts of sagging skin after weight loss. In addition to cosmetic problems, folds of sagging skin can be a health issue, causing rashes and infections to develop. Nothing can restore the skin's elasticity, so, in order to tighten sagging skin after weight loss, post-bariatric body contouring surgery will likely be necessary.

Surgery to Tighten Skin After Weight Loss

Post-bariatric body contouring surgery, also known as "body lift surgery," is an effective surgical process used to tighten skin after weight loss. Excess skin is removed, and what remains is lifted and tightened to better fit the patient's new body. This usually takes place over the course of several visits to our surgical facility, as your surgeon addresses each area of your body that has excess sagging skin.

Post-bariatric body contouring is not a single procedure, but rather a collection of procedures, such as arm lift, thigh lift, neck lift, lower body lift, and abdominoplasty. Each of these is used to tighten skin after weight loss in a specific area of the body.

The safety, effectiveness, and results of post-bariatric body contouring have been proven again and again. Gastric bypass surgery's ever-increasing popularity as a treatment for morbid obesity means that more and more people are in need of surgery to tighten skin after weight loss. Over 75,000 post-bariatric body contouring procedures were performed in 2005, and that number is expected to rise by more than a third when the figures are released for 2006. We are happy to be providing patients with the most natural-looking, state-of-the-art surgical procedures to tighten skin after weight loss.

Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck)

The abdomen is one of the main regions in which patients develop sagging skin after weight loss. In order to give the trunk of your body a more ideal contour, the physicians at the Institute for Post-Bariatric Body Contouring perform abdominoplasty surgery. During an abdominoplasty, we remove the loose skin that causes the abdomen to protrude, and tighten the muscles of the abdominal wall. Any excess fat that still remains can also be removed. The skin is then brought down and secured with stitches; incisions are strategically placed so that nearly all resulting scars can be concealed beneath a bathing suit.

Brachioplasty (Arm Lift)

When sagging skin is concentrated around the upper arm, we use a procedure known as brachioplasty, or arm lift, to recontour the area and give your arms a sleeker, more toned appearance. Using a few carefully-placed incisions, we can remove the flap of loose skin; usually scars can be limited to inconspicuous locations on the underside of the arm and inside the armpit.

Thighplasty (Hip and Thigh Lift)

The hip and thigh region is one of the chief locations in which fat is stored, so when you lose the fat, loose, stretched-out skin often remains in that area. It may even be difficult to see the results of your weight loss for all the sagging skin. At the Institute for Post-Bariatric Body Contouring, we perform thighplasty surgery, also known as "hip and thigh lift" or "lower body lift," to lift up sagging skin and remove the excess. As with other body contouring procedures, incisions are placed in such a manner as to minimize the appearance of scars

Neck Lift

After bariatric surgery, skin can gather in a dewlap that hangs from the front of the neck, causing jowls and the dreaded "double chin." Neck lift surgery can effectively tighten sagging skin, and give your neck a slimmer, shapelier contour. Incisions are generally placed inconspicuously behind the ears; some skin is removed and the remainder is lifted up and secured into the new location with stitches, which come out after a week to ten days.

If you have had gastric bypass surgery and are searching for a way to tighten sagging skin after weight loss, contact the Institute for Post-Bariatric Body Contouring today.