Many more patients are undergoing massive weight loss surgery. Either with a gastric bypass or gastric sleeve. Once they lose all that weight, they still have trouble fitting into clothes because of the excess skin. So do they need skin removal or liposuction? That depends.
Do you need skin removal or liposuction?
It’s very frustrating for the surgical weight loss patient because they have surgery to be a smaller, healthier new person. But the problem is that after the weight loss, they have excess skin and some residual fat. So they still can’t fit into their clothes.
That’s where additional body contouring surgery comes in. Unfortunately, those procedures aren’t always covered by insurance. But what procedure do they need? If they have deflated skin with minimal fat, skin removal may be necessary. This requires long incisions which understandably, patients don’t always want. However, with large amounts of hanging skin from the abdomen, skin removal is the only option.
If, on the other hand, they still have a fair amount of fat, liposuction is a possibility. After liposuction, skin has a tendency to tighten. So if the patient has a moderate amount of excess skin, liposuction may remove the fat and also tighten the skin, avoiding the need for a long incision.
Whether a patient’s skin will tighten enough or not is not always clear ahead of time. See the photo above. The patient had excess fat and excess skin. She opted for liposuction only. Now, time will tell whether the skin tightens to the extent she’s hoping for. Therefore, it’s important for the patient to have reasonable expectations. They must know that in an attempt to reduce their scars by doing liposuction first, they may need to get skin removed in a second operation if their skin doesn’t tighten adequately.
To check pricing on skin removal procedures and liposuction from a doctor near you, click here.
