You’ve Lost the Weight—Now What?

It takes work to lose weight. Whether you focus on dieting, stick to a rigorous exercise plan, combine both strategies into a significant lifestyle change, try new weight-loss medications, or undergo gastric bypass surgery, the effort requires commitment, drive, and often a significant investment of resources and time. After all that hard work, you want to ensure that your results are as good as they can be. That’s why many people turn to plastic surgery after weight loss. The Madison and Milwaukee-based team at Parkins Plastic Surgery regularly works with patients who have dropped 50 or 60 pounds—or even 100 pounds or more! Unfortunately, that kind of change can leave behind unwanted reminders of the weight in the form of loose and sagging skin.

When a person gains weight, the skin stretches and grows to accommodate the additional bulk. As weight is lost, the skin should ideally retract along with the shrinking contours. However, rapid weight loss doesn’t always allow the skin enough time to adjust properly. Additionally, age-related loss of elasticity and structure reduces the skin’s ability to bounce back, making it more likely that skin won’t conform to newly slim contours after a successful weight-loss journey.

That can result in a saggy-looking belly, deflated buttocks, and other cosmetic issues caused by stretched-out skin. Fortunately, plastic surgery can help address these concerns.

Many cosmetic surgery procedures are designed to target excess skin that hides slim body contours. Tucks and lifts tighten the skin, giving the body an overall trimmer look. While these procedures can be performed individually—for instance, if a patient wants just a tummy tuck or to only address the upper arms—they work especially well when combined into a post-weight-loss suite of procedures.

What can this post weight-loss transformation include?

Liposuction

Fat-reduction surgery may seem unnecessary for someone who has already lost a significant amount of weight, but the reality is that different parts of the body lose bulk in different ways for different people. Some patients see their overall body contours change proportionally, while others remain frustrated by a stubborn belly bulge or love handles that refuse to shrink. Maybe your buttocks hold onto their excess fat, or your thighs or upper arms just won’t slim down. Liposuction targets these localized pockets of fat to enhance the results of weight loss, addressing areas such as the buttocks, thighs, or upper arms.

Breast Lift

Whether losing weight for health reasons or seeing the scales shift after a baby is born, a common body change is sagging breasts. After being large for so long, newly smaller breasts fail to fill out the stretched skin, causing them to droop and point downward. Patients may get implants via breast augmentation to increase their breasts’ size once again, but this won’t change the breasts’ position on the chest. A breast lift removes skin and tissue to elevate the breasts higher on the chest, giving them a perkier appearance. This surgery may also involve repositioning the nipples and areola so they don’t “aim” at the floor.

Arm Lift

The upper arms are a common place for loose skin to hang after weight loss. This problem is so common, in fact, that it has a nickname: bat wings. The idea is that when your arms are outstretched, the skin hanging below your biceps is significant enough to resemble our flying friends’ wings. An arm lift targets this excess skin, giving the upper arms a toned and sleek appearance.

Thigh Lift

Similar to the arms, the upper part of the legs—known as the thighs—can appear lax following a significant reduction in weight. A thigh lift sculpts these lines and curves that give significant shape to the lower half of the body. The result is slender-looking legs that are more in proportion with your other features—especially if they are being slimmed and sculpted as well.

Tummy Tuck

Also known as an abdominoplasty, this is a very popular procedure, since it makes such an obvious visual difference on the midsection. A flabby-looking belly is a very common problem for women and men alike, whether due to age or weight loss. Tummy tuck surgery tightens loose skin, as well as repairs damaged abdominal muscles that work to give the belly a flatter look and repositions the belly button as necessary. A tummy tuck also frequently includes some liposuction, allowing the plastic surgeon to sculpt a flatter, more toned stomach.

Get more information about options for plastic surgery after weight loss. Contact the Madison and Milwaukee area’s Parkins Plastic Surgery by calling (262) 269-1050, or request a consultation by submitting a contact form online.