Body Lift - Plastic Surgery | Prof. Dr ASIM AYDIN

What is a body lift?

A body lift procedure raises and tightens areas of excess skin, including the thighs, buttocks, hips, groin, waist, and abdomen. Generally, this procedure involves removing excess skin from the front and back of the mid-section, and tightening the underlying muscles to create a more comfortable and desired body.

How is a body lift done?

Body lift patients are usually those who have lost weight but continue to have an unsightly physical appearance and potentially some physical problems due to the extensive amounts of loose skin, primarily in their mid-sections. The best candidates are non-smokers in good health, who have maintained a stable weight, and who have realistic expectations of the procedure.

Who is a good candidate for a body lift?

Body lift patients are usually those who have lost weight but continue to have an unsightly physical appearance and potentially some physical problems due to the extensive amounts of loose skin, primarily in their mid-sections. The best candidates are non-smokers in good health, who have maintained a stable weight, and who have realistic expectations of the procedure. The number of patients with history of extreme overweight and massive weight loss has risen significantly all over the world.

Majority of patients are left with loose, ptotic skin envelopes, and oddly shaped protuberances seen anywhere on the body. Body contouring surgery after massive weight loss is a very active field in plastic surgery. Lower trunk contouring should be performed first followed six months later by breast, lateral chest and arm procedures. Thighplasty is usually undertaken at the end. Body contouring operations are staged at a few months’ intervals and often result in long scars. Staging is important as each procedure can have a positive impact on adjacent areas of the body. Secondary procedures are often required.

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How long is the recovery from a body lift?

You can return to your daily routines in two to three weeks. While there can be significant weight lost from a body lift procedure--anywhere from five to ten percent of the total amount of weight originally lost--the amount of weight lost varies, depending on each individual procedure performed.

How should body lifting be planned and how can the results be maximized?

The objectives of lower body contouring include flattening of the abdomen, excision of the lower back rolls, relocation/recreation of the umbilicus, creating a waist line in women, reshaping/redefining the buttocks, lifting the antero-lateral thigh and elevation and/or reduction of the mons.

The regions included in the evaluation of upper body are the breasts, lateral chest, arms, upper and mid back. The circumferential lower body lift operation performed previously exerts a significant positive impact on breasts, flanks and upper back. It reduces the magnitude of the upper body contouring procedures required or may occasionally even eliminate their need. However, in women it can also result in significant downwards migration of the inframammary folds. Precisely for this reason, it is recommended not to perform the breast contouring surgery before or even with a body lift operation.

The upper arms, lateral chest and the breasts are intimately related and all need contouring separately or simultaneously. The staging sequence if the latter is preferred is decided with the paient. The goals of upper body contouring are to restore projection and fullness of breast parenchyma with appropriate NAC size and position, to reposition or recreate the inframammary fold, to eliminate axillary skin rolls, mid and upper back rolls, and to reshape the arms by excising loose, hanging and redundant folds of excess skin and fat.

It is recommended to perform thighplasty six months after the upper body lift operation combined with arm lift (brachioplasty) and breast lift (mastopexy). Lower body lift procedures have beneficial effect on the lateral thigh and on the proximal anterior thigh. The improvement in the thighs often reduces the extent of the thigh reduction surgery. Rejuvenation of the medial thigh requires removal of the fat as well as excision and redraping of the entire medial thigh skin ending in a vertical scar along the medial thigh.