Losing a large amount of weight is an amazing accomplishment! Whether it’s with weight loss surgery, GLP-1 medications, or through diet and exercise, we applaud your hard work. Unfortunately, many people are left with loose and hanging skin that keeps them from enjoying their dramatic weight loss as much as they otherwise could. Body contouring surgery can be the final step in your weight loss journey that puts you on the path to great health.
Am I a Candidate?
As with most types of elective surgery, it’s important that you be a non-smoker who is at or close to your goal weight. If you’ve had a large amount of weight loss, particularly after weight loss surgery, it’s best to be at a stable weight for 6-12 months before having cosmetic surgery. The most common types of body contouring after major weight loss are tummy tuck, arm lift, breast lift, breast reduction, and thigh lift. It’s often possible to combine several procedures together, which saves cost and recovery time. For instance, arm and breast surgery together is a common combination, as is tummy tuck plus breast surgery. Dr. MacLennan will need to examine you to make a recommendation on the procedures that may help you, and whether they can be combined.
How is the Skin Removal Surgery Done?
To remove excess skin, it’s usually necessary to make long incisions, so these are not minimally invasive procedures. Despite the long incisions, most patients recover very well and find that pain is surprisingly minimal. Check our pages on the individual procedures for more information.
What is Recovery Like?
Recovery times vary, depending on the surgical procedure or combination. At minimum, 2 weeks off work are necessary to recover from a breast procedure, while it may take 6-8 weeks to get back to full activity after an abdominoplasty or combination surgery.
You’ve made great progress with your weight loss, now take the next step and get rid of the extra sagging skin to complete your transformation! Call Mountain Lake Plastic Surgery at (802) 231-4284 to get started.
Why is body contouring needed after significant weight loss?
While some patients are lucky and their skin shrinks back to normal after weight loss, they are unfortunately in the minority, especially if the weight loss was significant. Many patients feel much healthier after significant weight loss but find that their loose skin still bothers them. Loose skin after weight loss can be both a cosmetic and functional problem, so plastic surgeons have developed body contouring techniques that address these concerns.
Is body contouring a weight loss procedure?
While there is always some weight removed with tummy tucks and other body contouring procedures, it’s often not as much as you might think. The best plan is to lose most of the extra weight before having surgery so that what we are removing is mostly loose skin.
Can I gain weight back after post-weight loss body contouring?
Unfortunately, yes, you can. The best way to maintain your results is to keep your weight stable. Most of us have some small weight fluctuations over time, but keeping your weight in about a 10lb. range is a good goal for maintaining your results.
How soon after weight loss can I have body contouring surgery?
Before you have surgery, you should be within about 10# of the weight you think you’ll be able to maintain. We want you to be healthy, well-nourished, and in a good routine so you can heal uneventfully. If your weight loss was due to bariatric surgery, your bariatric program will usually want you to be at a steady weight for at least 6 months before referring you for body contouring procedures.
How should I prepare for body contouring surgery after weight loss?
It’s important that you be at a steady weight and able to maintain good nutrition and good protein intake so your body can heal. If you use nicotine, stop all nicotine products such as smoking, vaping, or nicotine gum at least 6 weeks or more before surgery. If you take a weight loss medication such as Wegovy or Zepbound, stop the medication 1-2 weeks before surgery. You can restart when your diet normalizes after surgery.
Why do I have loose skin after losing a lot of weight?
Unfortunately, the skin does not always shrink back after we lose weight. This has a variety of explanations: your skin may have stretched and thinned to accommodate more fat when you were heavier, and when you lost that fat layer, the skin wasn’t able to contract enough to make up for all of the lost volume. You may be older and have less elasticity than when you were young. In addition, some areas of the body may bounce back better than others. It’s frustrating to realize that your skin may never contract as much as you had hoped, but we have options for skin and body contouring to help you get rid of the extra skin so you can feel comfortable in your new, healthier body.
Which areas can be treated with body contouring after weight loss?
The most popular areas are the tummy, breasts, and arms. It’s also common to extend the tummy tuck around the back of the torso for either an extended tummy tuck or a circumferential body lift. Additional options are thigh lift, bra-line back lift, and chest contouring for men.
Can I have all of my procedures done at the same time to avoid having multiple recoveries?
Yes and no- we commonly combine certain procedures after weight loss. For instance, breast reduction or lift, plus tummy tuck, is a very common combination. Another popular combo is breast lift plus brachioplasty (arm lift). Because the risks of surgery can increase with extremely long procedures, and because Dr. MacLennan is a single surgeon who operates primarily in an outpatient center (Green Mountain Surgery Center), we try to keep our procedures to a maximum of about 6 hours for safety, This may mean that you need 2 or more surgical sessions if you have multiple areas that you want to address. We typically recommend at least 3 months between stages, again due to safety considerations.
What is the recovery time for post-weight loss body contouring?
Recovery times depend on the procedure or combination of procedures that are planned for you. Because we do most of our procedures as outpatient surgeries, we try to limit the surgery time to a maximum of about 6 hours for safety. Your circumferential bodylift may have you off work for 3-4 weeks and taking it easy for 6 weeks, while a shorter, less complicated procedure, such as a brachioplasty (arm lift), may have you back at work in 1.5-2 weeks. We’ll talk more about the expected recovery when we make your personalized plan together.
