Losing a large amount of weight, whether through changes through diet and exercise or through bariatric surgery, is something to be proud of. Eliminating excess weight is beneficial for your overall health and can boost your self-confidence. However, losing a large amount of weight can also contribute to unwanted body contours, such as excess skin, sagging skin, and even stubborn fat pockets that refuse to budge. Body contouring procedures are a way to put the final touch on your weight loss journey and give you the curves you really desire.
How Body Contouring Procedures Can Make a Difference after Weight Loss
If you have been overweight for an extended period of time or lost a large amount of weight quickly, you may experience the unwanted side effect of excess and sagging skin. In many cases, this excess sagging skin can leave you feeling very self-conscious and unable to truly enjoy your new weight loss. In addition, this excess, sagging skin is often prone to rashes and fungal infections that can cause medical concerns. But excess skin isn’t the only concern you may face. Stubborn deposits of fat can still remain and, despite your best efforts, remain impossible to remove.
Body contouring procedures target these concerns, giving you the end result that you had hoped to achieve with weight loss. Through these procedures, surgeons can remove the excess skin and stubborn fat while tightening the remaining skin and giving you a smooth, youthful appearance and the body curves that allow you to really showcase the hard work it took to lose the weight.
Are You a Candidate for Body Contouring?
Whether you chose bariatric surgery or did the hard work to change your diet and begin an exercise routine, being at or near your ideal weight is one of the first qualifications for body contouring procedures. Staying committed to a healthy diet and exercise routine is essential to maintain your results after your procedure. In addition to being at the appropriate weight, a good candidate for body contouring procedures will be in good physical health, without any underlying medical conditions, and have realistic expectations about their procedures.
Top Body Contouring Procedures That Can Enhance Weight Loss
When it comes to body contouring procedures after weight loss, there is really no area of the body that can’t be included. Body contouring procedures target not only excess skin and stubborn fat, but also a boost to areas, such as the breast or the butt, when necessary. Some of the most common body contouring procedures include:
Tummy Tuck
A tummy tuck is designed to address your midsection by removing excess and sagging skin while also tightening underlying abdominal muscles. This procedure is extremely beneficial for women that have been pregnant, as pregnancy stretches and weakens the abdominal skin and muscles even more than excess weight. A tummy tuck helps to restore a more toned and slender abdominal area, giving you a more defined and slenderer waistline, as well as a flatter tummy.
Liposuction
Liposuction is a procedure designed to target stubborn pockets of fat that no amount of diet or exercise seems to affect. Liposuction can be used in most areas of the body, though it is most commonly used in the abdominal region (often with a tummy tuck), the love handles, back rolls, double chins, the hips, thighs, and upper arms.
Breast Lift
Sagging of the breasts is common as we age, but it is often accelerated after significant weight loss. Breast lift surgery helps to lift sagging breasts back to their natural position, remove any excess skin, reposition the breast and the nipples, and give you a more toned and youthful appearance.
Breast Augmentation
Oftentimes, significant weight loss means you lose volume and weight from areas you weren’t necessarily targeting, such as the breasts. This loss of volume often leaves you with a smaller bust size than you desire. Breast augmentation and breast implants allow you to restore the lost volume of your breasts and give you the breast fullness and shape that enhances your new curves.
Buttock Enhancement
Similar to the breasts, weight loss can often take away volume in the buttocks, leaving you with a very flat backside profile. Buttock enhancement helps to restore the lost volume and give you back the curves necessary to fill out your favorite jeans.
Arm Lift
Excess skin on the arms can contribute to bat wings which leave many people self-conscious about wearing tank tops or short-sleeved shirts. This is especially true after significant weight loss. Arm lift surgery, or brachioplasty, targets the excess skin of the upper arms, delivering a much more toned and defined appearance, eliminating the bat wings, and having you ready to show off your beautiful new dress on the runway!
Thigh Lift
Excess skin in the upper thighs after weight loss is a common culprit to chafing whenever you walk or exercise. A thigh lift targets the excess skin, giving you a more toned and youthful appearance and the elimination of chafing concerns.
End Your Weight Loss Journey with Body Contouring
You fought the war and won your weight loss journey battle. Unfortunately, your journey left you with some visible signs of the battle you endured. Body contouring procedures can help you address those battle marks and deliver the body contours and curves you worked so hard to achieve.
Dr. Davis completed his residency in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford University Medical Center and is proud to be board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. After practicing for many years in the Bay Area, Dr. Davis has chosen private practice to allow him to provide the most personal and individualized patient care. Dr. Davis grew up in New England and graduated magna cum laude from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He then moved to Rochester, NY to attend medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he was in inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.
