Everyone tells you how great you look since you've lost all that weight. And you'd agree—if only you didn't have all this leftover skin to hide. You deserve to fully appreciate the results of your hard work and diligence, and a lower body contouring procedure can help. This dramatic procedure removes excess, hanging skin from the hips, thighs, and buttocks, restoring more natural proportions.
Losing weight is a tough enough journey, but nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to have excess, hanging skin on your body. If you are bothered by the appearance and discomfort of sagging tissues on your hips, thighs, or buttocks, we encourage you to keep reading about the benefits of lower body lifting cosmetic surgery.
A lower body lifting surgery is designed to tighten the skin of the outer thighs, buttocks and hips that has become loose and flabby as a result of massive weight loss, natural aging or heredity. This suite of procedures removes skin and underlying fat from the lower body and buttock area and reconstructs or “lifts” it to achieve a tighter, more toned look.
The benefits are numerous—clothing will fit more comfortably, you will look better proportioned, and you will no longer have to base your wardrobe and your activities around your unwanted, sagging skin.
There’s nothing cookie-cutter about a body lift. Each patient comes in with different goals and needs. Your surgeon will guide you through the options and help you understand what you can expect from surgery. Typically body lifting involves some combination of abdominoplasty or tummy tuck, thigh lift, and buttock lift.
Many post-weight loss patients have excess skin on the lower belly as well as stretched muscles and residual fat. Abdominoplasty tightens the muscles and removes excess skin for a smoother, flatter belly. An extended tummy tuck may be needed if you have a excess skin above the belly button. Learn more about tummy tucks»
Thigh lifting procedures target excess skin around the inner and outer thighs, correcting a flabby or lumpy appearance and addressing skin that seems to pool around the upper legs. Thigh lifts restore a smoother appearance and can help trousers and jeans fit more comfortably by reducing heaviness around the thighs.
Excess, sagging skin and fat in the buttock region may require a buttock lift. This procedure can remove burdensome skin and restore a smoother, shapelier appearance to the buttocks.
This is the most extensive of the body lifting procedures, and as the name implies removes excess skin from the entire circumference of the body, back and front. The remaining tissues are lifted and reshaped for a smoother body profile. Typically, this procedure is reserved for patients who have a large amount of excess skin around their middle.
One thing you need to consider about body lift surgery is the scars you will have. A body lift is a dramatic procedure that can deliver dramatic improvements in appearance and comfort. But you will have some noticeable scars. The good news is that these scars can usually be hidden by everyday clothing, and our surgeons take care to place incisions in natural folds of the body whenever possible.
Depending on the extent of surgery, a body lift can require some considerable downtime. You’ll need to be committed to the recovery process. While some procedures can be performed as an outpatient, more extensive body lifts may require a night or two in the hospital. After a few days, you will be mobile, but only light activities are permitted for 4 to 6 weeks. Plan on at least 2 or 3 weeks off of work.
As each body lift is different, the best way to get details on body lift surgery recovery is to meet face to face with a plastic surgeon. We offer free consults at The Swan Center, and our surgeons will be happy to meet with you to discuss your goals and concerns.
