Body Reshaping

Body Reshaping

Often, patients will come in and request body contouring surgery even while overweight or frankly obese. Weight loss prior to cosmetic surgery will lower your risk of complications following surgery. A weight loss program can be designed for you during your consultation. This may be a traditional "diet" or a short pulse of a liquid diet, to provide for rapid loss just prior to surgery.  I recommend the book “You-On a Diet” by Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz or Dr. Arthur Agatston’s “South Beach Diet” to help you achieve weight loss prior to surgery.

With the rising popularity of bariatric (weight loss) surgery and, in particular, the invention of the 'lap band', I am performing more skin removal procedures in this group of patients. Tummy tucks, thigh lifts, arm lifts, bodylifts, and facelifts are popular following massive weight loss. Some patients are concerned about the extra weight around their abdomen and desire a tummy tuck. If your extra skin continues along your sides and onto your back, you might consider a lower body lift. This is an aggressive procedure that combines the tummy tuck with a partial thigh lift and buttocks lift.

This is big surgery and it's not for everyone. There is no right or wrong answer when considering cosmetic surgery, even body contouring after weight loss. What is appropriate or desired for one person may be out of the question for another person. One thing is for sure, however, the thinner you are at the time of your skin removal surgery, the better the result you will have and the less likely you are to have a complication. If you are a smoker, have heart disease or diabetes, you are not a candidate for this type of surgery. The risks are simply too high.

I have a particular interest in tummy tuck surgery and I’m currently performing a study of abdominoplasty effects that will be submitted for publication in a major plastic surgery journal.