Plastic surgery can be the perfect way to complete the new you after a massive weight loss. After shedding all those unwanted pounds, you will feel a great increase of energy and will probably find a great deal of relief from any related health conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes.
Yet, in all the excitement of losing weight, you may feel a bit blue about the extra skin folds and wrinkles that cover your new trim body. After being stretch so tight for so many years, your skin may have lost its ability to elastically shrink down to fit the size of its underlying contents.
This excess, sagging skin can be very unsightly and take away from the accomplishment of having gotten back down to a healthy weight. Fortunately there are plastic surgeries available that can help sculpt your body back into a beautiful shape.
Lower Body Lifts
One of the most common areas to have rolls of wrinkly, sagging skin after major weight loss is the stomach. The thighs and buttocks can also have skin draped over them like curtains as well. A lower body lift can correct all of these problems. It is a combination of several procedures performed during the same session.
You can have this plastic surgery done in a hospital or in an outpatient facility, but you will most likely have to spend at least a night of recovery at either place. The lower body lift includes a tummy tuck, a thigh lift, and a buttock lift.
A tummy tuck is performed as the plastic surgeon makes an incision along the public bone and bikini line. The unwanted skin is then removed, and if desired liposuction can be administered to get rid of stubborn pockets of fat in the stomach area. Then the abdominal muscles are sutured in places to tighten them up.
The final step of the tummy tuck procedure is to stretch the remaining skin tightly over the stomach and stitch it closed at the incision mark. There will of course be a scar and the recovery time is about three weeks, but the results can be dramatic.
A thigh lift consists of an incision being made along the groin crease. The plastic surgeon then cuts off the excess skin and performs liposuction to get rid of diet and exercise resistant fat pockets. Then the thigh skin is pulled tight and upward to meet the groin incision line. The scar is generally well concealed in the groin area and the recovery time is about one to two weeks.
A buttock lift involves an incision line across the lower back where it meets the buttocks. Extra skin is removed, and the remaining skin is pulled upward and sewn together with the lower back again. Liposuction is a possible addition to this plastic surgery procedure.
You will not be allowed to sit down for a week to avoid putting undue stress on the sutures, but recovery is only about two weeks long and can provide longer, more youthful looking buttocks and legs.
Upper Arm Lifts
Once the excess skin from your lower half has been removed, you may also want to have an arm lift plastic surgery performed. After massive weight loss, the arm skin can hang down and seem to be twice as long as it needs to be to cover the underlying muscles, bones, and tissues.
An arm lift can get rid of that sagging skin with an incision on the underside of the upper arm. The unwanted skin is excised and the incision line is sutured together again. An arm lift will slim down and give tone to your upper arms, although there will be a visible scar afterwards. The recovery time is about two weeks.
Massive weight loss is a very amazing accomplishment. You can complete the transformation of your body with plastic surgery to contour and get rid of flabby, sagging skin. Your plastic surgeon can help you decide which procedures are right for you.