Whether it’s a bundle of joy, genetics, hormones or poor diet there can reach a time in life where you just want a slim trim body to emerge. Dr. Brian Brzowski of Salt Lake City, Utah sees cases like this all the time. Women and men who need more than dieting or fat removal can offer.
By Brian K. Brzowski, MD
and Beverly Brooks
The Plastic Surgery Channel
Bariatric surgery is a big step. Weight loss is achieved by reducing the size of the stomach with a gastric band or through removal of a portion of the stomach or by resecting and re-routing the small intestine to a small stomach pouch (gastric bypass surgery).
With a board certified plastic surgeon such as Brzowski, body contouring can be the cherry on top of the bariatric procedure!
Surgery After Weight Loss
While obesity is on the rise – so is technology, science and skilled surgeons who are circumventing ways to help us battle the bulge. The debate over what’s causing this epidemic in obesity seems endless and confusing. Diet and exercise aren’t the only solutions. Obese patients sometimes must turn to surgical techniques by experts in bariatric surgery.
What Happens To Your Skin After Bariatric Surgery?
Changes in the skin and soft tissues occur to some extent in nearly every patient. They include looseness of the face, neck, arms, breasts, upper trunk, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs. It’s not unusual for there to be a deflation in the volume of these areas, particularly the breast and buttocks.
“Once my patient has gone through weight loss, and attained a look to restore their body image, the contouring allows them to see such a stunning result, they have a much stronger desire to KEEP the weight off,” says Brzowski. “The bottom line: we see a lot of success with the patients who opt for body contouring!”
Studies have clearly proven that many associated diseases that accompany morbid obesity will improve or completely resolve with the weight loss that follows bariatric surgery.
Although the bariatric procedure is able to help the patient move toward their previous weight, patients generally do not fully return to the condition and appearance that they had prior to their weight gain.
A belt lipectomy (often called a lower body lift), thigh and arm lifts, facelifts, and breast lifts, with or without implants are commonly done at Dr. Brzowski’s practice. All of these procedures involve some amount of skin removal and lifting of the sagging tissues. Where appropriate, the lost volume can be augmented and the muscle layers tightened. The tradeoffs for these improvements are the resulting scars and recovery.
What’s the End Game?
So being realistic, you do endure scars, an expensive procedure and some significant recovery. However, the patient satisfaction which comes with a beautiful body contour can be completely life altering. Self esteem in some patients is as noticeable as the procedure itself.
Credentials
Do your homework, always. Is your surgeon board certified and have extensive experience with surgery performed for obese patients? These are all questions you should have resolved prior to any surgical procedure.