Surgery After Weight Loss
Body contouring surgery is a group of procedures aimed at improving the body shape in individuals that are dissatisfied with the shape and size of their torso. Despite a reasonably good level of health and fitness, some people may have disproportionate body contour due to localized fat deposits. These areas may be hereditary or familial traits rather than lack of weight control or fitness. Still others may have excess skin after weight loss, post bariatric surgery, illness, or related to aging/gravity effects.
Body contour can be improved by removing localized fatty deposits that do not respond to diet or exercise. Excess skin can be removed or lifted and redraped to restore body contours to improve your proportions. Commonly treated areas are the abdomen, thighs, upper arms, and flanks. Examples of these procedures include facelift, thigh lift (thighplasty), arm lift (brachioplasty), abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), and buttock lift. Increasingly, multiple body contouring surgery procedures are performed together to remove excess skin due to increase in bariatric or weight loss surgery for obesity.
Learn more about your options. Save $25 – request your consultation online at Wagner and Associates Plastic Surgery in Indianapolis and receive 33% off the regular $75 consultation fee.
Post-Weight Loss Plastic Surgery in Indianapolis
According to federal statistics, nearly a third (30 percent) of adult Americans are now obese, and 5 percent are morbidly or severely obese. Many are resorting to bariatric surgery to limit their food intake and absorption and enhance weight loss.
For over 170,000 morbidly obese patients who undergo bariatric surgery each year in the U.S., the gastric procedure is just the first step. Although often successful in reducing their excess weight, many patients are left with unsightly excess folds of skin and fat, and in some ways can actually look worse. For many overweight patients, the next stage of their rehabilitation is a series of operations collectively called body contouring surgery. In this category of operations, plastic surgeons remove excess skin and fat tissue and sculpt and restore the body to a more normal, aesthetically pleasing look.
Bariatric plastic surgery is often the critical endpoint of an amazing return to health and confidence. In 2005, U.S. plastic surgeons performed nearly 56,000 post-operative body-contouring procedures on patients who had undergone bariatric surgery. It is typically recommended that a patient's weight stabilizes for at least three to six months before they undergo plastic surgical contouring procedures.
Depending on the patient's specific needs, several recontouring procedures may be needed. Often, these procedures can be performed separately over time, or commonly, multiple procedures are done together. Scars resulting from body contouring are often positioned to lie below the underwear. In addition to removing skin, residual fat can be attacked with precision liposuction to "smooth out" uneven areas that arise after drastic weight loss, providing a more even, natural look.
Bariatric plastic surgery does carry some special inherent risks, such as blood loss, infection, fluid collections, and healing problems that are unique to this type of surgery. For this reason, bariatric plastic surgery should be performed by board-certified plastic surgeons who are experienced in managing post-bariatric patients and the special challenges they present. For most patients, the road from unhealthy, disabling obesity to a slimmer, healthier and more attractive body is a long one that requires a highly motivated patient and team willing to take that journey. Bariatric plastic surgery to refine the body contour is often the finishing touch. When it's over, patients generally say they feel healthier, more attractive, and happier, and that it was well worth it.
Double board certified Indianapolis plastic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Wagner and the entire team at Wagner and Associates Plastic Surgery are committed to helping you achieve your ideal look through cosmetic procedures. Request your consultation online to save $25 off the usual $75 consultation fee at Wagner and Associates Plastic Surgery on Clearvista Parkway in Indianapolis. Or, call 317-621-2520 today to schedule an appointment. Feel like a new person and look like your best self at Wagner and Associates Plastic Surgery.
