To learn more about tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), thigh lift, arm lift, breast lift, and other cosmetic surgery procedures that sculpt the body after weight loss, contact Dr. Fodor at Century Aesthetics®.
Century Aesthetics®
Peter B. Fodor, M.D., F.A.C.S.
2080 Century Park East,
Suite 710
Los Angeles, CA 90067
P. 866-370-9042
F. 310-203-9798
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Century Aesthetics® - centurycitycosmeticsurgery
Cosmetic Surgery after Massive Weight Loss, Including Post-Bariatric Plastic Surgery
At Century Aesthetics®, Dr. Peter Fodor is an expert at performing cosmetic surgery to help patients restore their figure after dramatic weight loss. From tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), arm lift (brachioplasty), thigh lift (thighplasty), breast lift/reduction, and facelift (rhytidectomy) to liposuction and full body lifts, Dr. Fodor can tighten the now loose skin envelope of the face, trunk and extremities and in so doing, assist in erasing the signs of aging, pregnancy, or weight loss.
Body Lift Surgery
As more and more people successfully lose significant amounts of weight, there is greater demand for body contouring procedures involving skin resection. These comprehensive procedures are commonly known as body lift surgery, lower body lift, or belt lipectomy.
" ...the life changing rewards for patients, both functionally and aesthetically, make [body lift surgery] among the most satisfying of all the procedures performed by plastic surgeons."
— Dr. Peter Fodor
Medical Editor, Be Your Best: A Comprehensive Guide to Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Insight International Press)
When does body lift surgery become necessary?
When a person is morbidly obese or extremely overweight, their skin stretches to accommodate the body’s size. When skin is stretched to an extreme degree for a long period of time, it will lose its elasticity and ability to conform to the body’s new contours when the patient sheds the weight.
Quite commonly, patients who have experienced dramatic weight loss become discouraged when they lose the fat but are still burdened by pounds of excess skin. Not only do pounds and folds of extra skin hide the contours of the person’s newly trim body, but they can pose significant health risks — making individuals more vulnerable to rashes, infections, and difficulties with hygiene.
What is body lift surgery?
Body lift surgery is a group of procedures. Sometimes, the surgery is completed in one session; however, more commonly this is too much surgery for one sitting and it is completed in stages.
Body lift surgery is highly customizable. Following massive weight loss, patients can show skin laxity to various degrees, and in a variety of locations and patterns; therefore, body lift surgery involves some combination of abdominoplasty, thigh lift, buttock lift, arm lift, breast lift, and face lift. Sometimes liposuction is also used to improve the body’s contour; however, body lift is not a weight loss method. In addition, your weight must be stable for at least six months before post massive weight loss body contouring procedures can safely be performed.
Successful performance of body lift surgery is challenging in more than one respect — it requires considerable surgical skill as well as attention to the patient’s psychological needs. Dr. Fodor elaborates: “Attention to additional safety considerations, familiarity with rapidly evolving technical innovations, and a profound understanding of the emotional needs of these patients are all of paramount importance [in body lift surgery.] It is important for patients who need body contouring after massive weight loss to select a plastic surgeon with significant experience in this highly specialized area of plastic surgery.” (Excerpted from Be Your Best: A Comprehensive Guide to Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, published by Insight International Press)
Gain a New Lease on Life
Body lift surgery is an intricate combination of procedures, and recovery is lengthy but usually without any significant discomfort.
Dr. Fodor writes in Be Your Best: A Comprehensive Guide to Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Insight International Press):
“As we learn more about the special needs of massive weight loss patients, plastic surgeons are developing ways to achieve better and more predictable results from body contouring. For example, we now can not only remove excess skin, but also shift, reposition, and sculpt the remaining tissues to provide volume for deflated body areas such as the breasts and buttocks. This means that the final aesthetic outcome is greatly enhanced. Facial surgery, with modified facelift techniques, is also often performed to complete the 'new look.' For these patients, who often are both physically and emotionally exhausted from the ordeal of losing 100 or more pounds, plastic surgery truly offers a ‘new lease on life.’”
To learn more about the procedures that are commonly performed during body lift surgery, please read below, or contact Century Aesthetics® for a consultation.
Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty)
The abdominal area is notoriously difficult to tone, and some people are troubled by excess skin and fat in the area despite a conscientious diet and exercise routine. Other patients seek help after significant weight loss has left flaps of skin hanging off their abdomen. For these patients, Dr. Fodor offers a full range of tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) options. Like body lift surgery, abdominoplasty is a customizable procedure performed in an individual patient customized manner and usually is supplemented by liposuction.
When does abdominoplasty become necessary?
Abdominoplasty is indicated in a variety of situations. However, the procedure is only appropriate in cases where lax muscles or excess skin or fat in the abdominal region cannot be successfully addressed through diet and exercise alone or in combination with liposuction.
Those troubled by an abdominal pouch caused by fat surrounding the internal organs are generally advised to slim the area through diet and exercise rather than tummy tuck surgery. Another alternative for these patients who are often described as “having a beer belly” is to remove this intra-abdominal fat laparoscopically. The approach is similar to a laparoscopic gallbladder removal.
To Correct the Effects of Pregnancy or Aging
A tummy tuck can address several of the changes resulting from pregnancy. First, pregnancy can cause diastasis, a condition in which the vertical abdominal muscles separate from each other; this is manifested by a protruding abdomen resistant to exercise. This muscle separation can be also successfully addressed at the time of tummy tuck surgery. Tummy tuck surgery can also address stretch marks in the lower abdomen, narrow your waist, remove excess skin, all resulting in a more youthful body contour.
A similar, exercise-resistant pouch may appear simply as a side effect of aging as skin loses its elasticity. In this case, liposuction alone or supplemented with a tummy tuck, can effectively provide a youthful, flat contour to the abdomen.
To Address the Effects of Significant Weight Loss
It is a persistent misconception that abdominoplasty primarily eliminates fat. In fact, the procedure is primarily performed to address loose, redundant abdominal skin and muscle.
Abdominoplasty is a vital post-weight-loss body contouring procedure and is often performed as the first step of body lift surgery. In this situation, tummy tuck surgery is primarily used to excise the skin hanging off the abdominal region, though some liposuction may be used also.
How is abdominoplasty performed?
Thankfully, abdominoplasty has been greatly refined since it was first performed in 1890. Today, the details of the abdominoplasty procedure depend on the patient’s desires and expectations, as well as the amount and nature of their excess skin, loose muscle, and fat deposits. While standard, or full, tummy tuck surgery “still may be the most frequently performed abdominoplasty technique,” writes Dr. Fodor, abdominal contouring procedures are now highly individualized and surgeons have a variety of different approaches and techniques at their disposal.
Despite the highly individualized nature of today’s abdominal contouring procedures, an explanation of the generalized abdominoplasty procedure will help you determine whether this procedure is right for you.
The Full Tummy Tuck Procedure
The amount of skin to be removed, as well as the patient’s preferences, largely determine the length of the incision created during abdominoplasty. In general, a full abdominoplasty is performed through an incision extending from hip bone to hip bone, directly above the pubic area. The location of this incision is determined after extensive consultations with the patient and is designed to be hidden by swimwear and undergarments. A second incision is made around the navel, allowing Dr. Fodor to tighten loose skin above the belly button. The navel will remain attached to its underlying blood supply and will not change position — the skin and muscle around it will be tightened and smoothed.
Working through the horizontal incision, Dr. Fodor will tighten the abdominal muscles and use liposuction to remove stubborn fat deposits as needed, around the waist and hips, for a best possible new contour. In some cases, Dr. Fodor will improve the waistline by using permanent sutures to horizontally tighten the patient’s muscles and its covering fascia — the sheet of connective tissue that extends from the rib cage to the pubic bone. In women with abdominal muscles weakened by pregnancy, he will close the muscles in the center, resulting in a flatter abdominal configuration. The surgery is concluded by excising redundant skin and closing the incision.
The Limited (Mini) Tummy Tuck Procedure
Dr. Fodor describes mini abdominoplasty as “a procedure less extensive than the traditional approach.” A mini tummy tuck requires a shorter incision than a full abdominoplasty, and no incision is made around the navel. Because the skin flap is only separated from the navel to the incision line, the mini tummy tuck is able to address abdominal protrusion primarily below the navel.
However, just as in the full tummy tuck procedure, Dr. Fodor performs a mini tummy tuck by tightening the abdominal muscles, using liposuction to remove pockets of fat, and excising redundant skin before pulling it down and stitching it back into place.
Tummy Tuck Combined with Liposuction
As a pioneer in the field of liposuction, Dr. Fodor is at the forefront of advances in the successful combination of abdominoplasty with liposuction. Dr. Fodor stresses that liposuction should only be used selectively and judiciously — especially during a full tummy tuck or any other type of body lift procedure. However, when used with care, liposuction can be combined with abdominoplasty with stunning results. For example, Dr. Fodor often performs tummy tuck surgery along with liposuction of the flanks and waist. This results in the torso to “be more effectively contoured and the final results of abdominoplasty significantly improved,” Dr. Fodor writes in Be Your Best: A Comprehensive Guide to Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, published by Insight International Press.
Dr. Fodor continues to refine the techniques available in the combination of liposuction and tummy tuck. He writes, “these potential refinements in abdominoplasty should continue to improve the already excellent results obtained from this procedure.”
Which tummy tuck procedure is for me?
During your consultation, Dr. Fodor will evaluate you to determine whether abdominoplasty — and if so, a full or limited abdominoplasty — is appropriate, if liposuction alone would create the desired effect, or if a combination of liposuction and tummy tuck surgery is necessary to meet your goals.
Which approach is best for you can only be determined after an examination and discussion with Dr. Fodor. An experienced pioneer in the field of body contouring surgery, Dr. Fodor brings years of surgical expertise to each of his patients in order to safely and artfully restore as much as possible a youthful, slim look to your abdomen.
Other Body Lift Procedures
In patients requiring a body lift procedures after weight loss, belt lipectomy (lower body lift) is the first step. Other procedures may then be recommended, either individually or in combination. These include abdominoplasty, thigh lift, buttock lift, breast lift, breast reduction, upper arm lift (brachioplasty), neck lift, and facelift. These secondary procedures are performed in stages — usually spaced two or three months apart.
Upper Arm Lift (Brachioplasty)
Due to the effects of aging or significant weight loss, the skin of the upper arms can become loose, creating a flap of excess skin. While certain exercises may be able to tone the muscles of the upper arms, they cannot reduce excess skin. A surgical procedure known as brachioplasty can be used to excise the loose skin and tissue, creating a tighter, smoother contour of the upper arms.
When does brachioplasty become necessary?
Stubborn fat deposits in the arm can be removed through liposuction alone if the skin is taut and elastic enough to contract to the new shape. Brachioplasty is necessary when the upper arms are marred by loose, stretched skin, or small fat deposits combined with skin that is sagging and inelastic.
Brachioplasty leaves a scar along the inner arm. Although this scar is positioned so that it will be concealed when the arms are in a resting position, it may be noticeable when reaching or moving the arms. If the degree of loose skin is not significant enough to warrant the scar that will be produced by surgery, brachioplasty is not the best option.
How is brachioplasty performed?
Brachioplasty begins with a longitudinal incision under the arm that may extend as far as the elbow. The length of the incision depends on the amount of tissue to be excised. Once the incision is made, excess skin and tissue are removed and the remaining skin is smoothed and tightened. Liposuction may be used during the procedure to remove small pockets of fat or to improve contour in the arm before the incision is closed with stitches.
Who is a brachioplasty candidate?
Brachioplasty is not for everyone. Patients who have undergone mastectomy or surgery of the underarm lymph nodes, or who have a condition that causes excessive underarm sweating, are not good candidates for this procedure. It is also not recommended for patients who have a history of infections in the underarm area, or who plan to lose a significant amount of weight.
Thigh Lift (Thighplasty)
A thigh lift is used to address skin and muscle laxity resulting from aging and/or significant weight loss. It can be performed by itself, or as a part of a series of body lift procedures.
While a thigh lift most commonly targets the inner thighs, Dr. Fodor can sometimes extend the incision so the buttocks, hips, and outer thighs can be sculpted during the thigh lift procedure.
How is a thigh lift performed?
During a thigh lift, Dr. Fodor tightens the excess tissues and removes excess skin, which results in smoothing of the remaining skin into a more youthful contour. In most cases, a thigh lift can be effectively combined with liposuction to enhance the contour of the upper legs, hips, and buttocks. Some patients at Century Aesthetics® choose to combine a thigh lift with other body contouring procedures.
If your thighs have lost their contour due to aging or significant weight loss, contact Dr. Fodor at Century Aesthetics® to learn more about a thigh lift. If you do not live in the Los Angeles area, you may participate in an online consultation.
Breast Lift (Mastopexy), Breast Reduction, and Male Breast Reduction (Gynecomastia)
After significant weight loss or pregnancy/breastfeeding, the breasts may have a deflated appearance. In this case, breast lift — sometimes done in conjunction with the placement of implants — may be appropriate in restoring a more youthful size and profile to the breasts.
Breast lift involves more than excising excess skin; it involves shifting, repositioning, and sculpting the remaining tissues to restore volume and an attractive contour to the breasts.
In males who have lost a significant amount of weight, a breast reduction may be needed to restore a masculine contour to the chest. In many cases, a minimally invasive lipoplasty-only breast reduction may yield the intended aesthetic result.
Facial Surgery
Facial surgery is indicated in many patients who have lost a significant amount of weight and is typically performed as the very last step in the larger series of body lift procedures. In post-weight loss patients, modified face lift techniques are used to restore a smooth and youthful contour to the face and neck.
Body Lift Procedures at Century Aesthetics®
Dr. Peter Fodor has observed that losing a significant amount of weight is a wonderful accomplishment but also creates some special problems. Patients are thrilled with their increased health and energy, but are troubled by the hanging folds of skin obscuring their new bodies. No amount of exercise or healthy eating can address skin that has permanently lost its tone, nor can it address a protruding abdomen showing the effects of aging or pregnancy. Thankfully, body lift procedures to excise redundant skin, tighten weakened muscles, and remove stubborn pockets of fat are more sophisticated than ever, providing stunning, individualized results with unprecedented patient safety.
Dr. Peter Fodor at Century Aesthetics® is an expert in the range of body lift procedures practiced today, including tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), thigh lift (thighplasty), and belt lipectomy (mid to lower body lift), with or without selective use of liposuction. A successful body lift procedure begins with a frank, informative consultation. Please contact Dr. Fodor at Century Aesthetics® to schedule an in-person consultation, or consider participating in an online consultation if you live outside the Los Angeles area.