I have the great privilege of meeting with many weight loss patients who are looking to improve their face, breasts, and body. Significant weight loss affects the body from head to toe, and therefore, I often discuss the treatment of multiple body regions in the initial consultation. Many patients want to understand their options for face, arms, chest/breast, torso, and/or thighs. Prior to embarking on this discussion, I check the patient’s past medical history, including medical conditions, medications, previous surgeries, and stability of weight loss.
Another important variable includes nutritional issues and whether the individual is smoking or vaping, as that injects a variable that can have detrimental effects on healing. We also want to be sure that weight loss is optimal, and despite great gains and weight loss, I still like to limit my BMI to 35 or less to help reduce the risk of complications from surgery. When my patients are paying very good money for surgery, the best thing we can do is remove any modifiable variables that could hurt the outcome.
As long as a patient has good health, good weight stability, and appears to be an optimal surgical candidate, we figure out the body regions that are most important to the patient and come up with a surgical plan that makes sense and is safety focused. Most combination procedures include addressing the abdomen. Common early combinations include work on the arms continuous into the chest region (upper body lift); and lower body lift with attention to the abdomen, back and thigh regions. Typically, surgery lasts anywhere from two hours to seven hours, and I perform it in a fully accredited surgical center. We are not only concerned preoperatively about how to keep surgery safe, but that concern is further addressed during surgery and after surgery to minimize risk.
It’s very exciting to see the impact that body lifts can have after massive weight loss. Bringing the healthy inside out is truly remarkable and leads to confidence that is unsurpassed. I love being able to participate in patients’ weight loss journeys in this way.
