Overview
Losing a significant amount of weight can be a major milestone in one’s life. Unfortunately, this frequently leaves behind stretched and sagging skin and muscle. Dr. Decherd and Dr. Isakson can help patients in these situations complete their weight loss transformation by performing surgery that restores and tightens the skin and underlying muscle. Dr. Decherd and Dr. Isakson are board-certified plastic surgeons practicing in San Antonio, Texas who offers a number of skin removal and body tightening procedures. These include lower and upper body lifts, thigh lifts, arm lifts and tummy tuck surgeries. This type of surgery, typically recommended for patients who have lost 100 pounds or more, is especially common among bariatric weight loss patients. For best results, we recommend patients be near their final goal weight and that their weight loss has stabilized before undergoing surgery.
Conditions Treated
Weight loss patients will consider after weight loss surgery to correct or enhance one or more of the following conditions:
- Deflated and sagging breasts with nipples that point downward
- Loose and hanging skin on the abdomen
- Excess skin and pockets of fat on the hips
- Excess and deflated skin on and under the buttocks
- Loose and hanging skin around the knees and inner thighs
- Hanging skin on the underside of the arms (“bat wings”)
- Loose and hanging skin on the neck (“turkey neck”)
Combination Surgeries
The goal of after weight loss surgery is to reduce the amount of loose skin that collects and hangs on the body and to lift the body part, so it appears tighter. Multiple areas of the body may need to be addressed, depending on the needs of each patient. Most surgeons will group body parts together and stage them multiple surgeries. Doing so helps reduce the risk of complications, such as blood loss and infection. Examples of this grouping include:
Upper body (Liposuction, breast lift, tummy tuck, arm lift)
Lower body (Liposuction, butt lift, thigh lift, lower body lift)
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During/After Surgery
After weight loss surgery is performed under general anesthesia in an accredited surgical facility. Patients are usually required to spend the night in the hospital so they can be monitored. The recovery following this surgery can be a slow process. While the post-surgical results can be life-changing for many weight loss patients, scarring is an unfortunate part of this process. Every attempt is made during surgery to minimize scarring as much as possible. Patients should adhere to a healthy lifestyle so that the results achieved through surgery are not compromised.