Plastic Surgery After Major Weight Loss in Phoenix, AZ
Losing significant weight is a fantastic accomplishment that does wonders for your physical health and emotional well-being. However, many men and women who have undergone major weight loss struggle with excess skin in the midsection, thighs, hips, buttocks, arms, and face.
With aging, skin loses its ability to retract to its original shape against underlying tissue. Plastic surgery after major weight loss refers to specific procedures that target these issues, finalizing and enhancing patients’ weight loss results.
Dr. Jennifer Boll is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Arizona with extensive experience in body contouring procedures. She has helped countless patients through the final step of their weight loss journeys and can create custom surgical plans to help tone, sculpt, and reveal your new body.
What Are the Benefits of Plastic Surgery After Major Weight Loss?
Removal of Excess Skin
The biggest hurdle of weight loss is the resulting skin. With rapid or extensive weight loss, the skin often remains stretched and loose. This results in flabby, wrinkled, or sagging areas. Not only does this hide your hard work, but it also causes chafing, irritations, and rashes. Worse, there is no at-home remedy for excess skin. Plastic surgery can remove excess skin, revealing the slim, toned body underneath.
Tighten, Firmer Body Contours
Rapid weight fluctuations can cause muscles to separate, making it difficult to exercise. Underlying tissue becomes stretched or loose as well, contributing to a sagging and protruding appearance in the lower abdomen, flanks, buttocks, and arms. Body contouring procedures allow your surgeon to tighten and reposition muscles and tissues for a smoother, more toned appearance.
More Evident Weight-Loss Results
It can be disappointing to work hard to lose significant weight, only for your skin and muscles to hide your transformation. Body contouring procedures reshape, tighten, and sculpt multiple areas of the body to show off your weight loss results. After these procedures, you can fully enjoy your new body, revealing a more toned figure you can continue to improve through exercise and diet.
How Is Plastic Surgery After Major Weight Loss Performed?
Abdominoplasty
Abdominoplasty, or a tummy tuck, is a surgical procedure that targets excess skin, stubborn fat, and separated abdominal muscles.
Dr. Boll will remove unwanted pockets of fat around the midsection and sides using liposuction before repairing damaged abdominal muscles. She will then trim loose or sagging skin before closing any incisions.
This procedure can result in a smoother, more firm abdomen and midsection that is impossible to achieve through diet and exercise alone.
Arm Lift (Brachioplasty)
Excess, sagging skin and pockets of fat in the upper arm area are common after massive weight loss. Depending on the severity of your condition, Dr. Boll can use a limited-incision arm lift, where the incision is placed within the armpit, or a standard arm lift, where the incision runs from the armpit toward the elbow on the underside of the arm.
Liposuction is typically used during an arm lift to remove fat deposits.
Thigh Lift
A thigh lift is a body contouring procedure that removes excess skin and fat from the thighs. Dr. Boll will begin the procedure by removing fat via liposuction from the inner and outer thighs, providing a smoother, more contoured surface. Then, she will make an incision that begins at the groin and continues down the inside of the thigh. Through these incisions, the tissues and skin will be tightened.
Body Lift
Similar to abdominoplasty, a body lift targets excess skin that can occur after major weight loss. A body lift sculpts and contours multiple areas of the body, including the hips, thighs, back, arms, and buttocks. Dr. Boll will make a circumferential incision around the midsection to remove excess skin and tighten internal muscles and tissues for a more contoured figure.
Breast Surgeries
Dr. Boll offers multiple options for enhancing the breasts after major weight loss, depending on your specific concerns:
- Breast lift surgery can elevate the breasts by removing excess, sagging skin for a perkier, more youthful appearance.
- Breast augmentation restores lost volume common with major weight loss, pregnancy, and aging. By making small incisions, Dr. Boll can insert breast implants to give her patients firmer, rounder, and fuller breasts.
Many patients combine these two procedures, lifting and reshaping the breasts with breast lift surgery and adding lost volume and shape with breast augmentation.
What to Expect After Plastic Surgery Following Major Weight Loss
Recovery
Recovery time varies, depending on the procedures you undergo. Most body contouring procedures require limited movement for a few weeks, so you should plan to have help around the house.
Additionally, most body contouring procedures require that you wear a compression garment, which is designed to help your body heal properly. During your consultation, Dr. Boll can walk you through your specific recovery process and will provide aftercare instructions to ensure an effective and quick recovery.
Many of these surgeries require at least six weeks of recovery.
Scars
All surgeries leave scars, and some body contouring procedures involve more extensive incisions, like the body lift and thigh lift, meaning more noticeable scars.
The extent of your scarring depends on factors like your body’s natural healing process, aftercare of the sutures, and sun exposure. Dr. Boll places incisions in discreet areas whenever possible.
Results
Plastic surgery after major weight loss can give you results that are otherwise impossible to achieve. Your sagging, drooping skin will be minimized, your muscles will be brought together, and you will finally see the fully slim body you worked so hard to create.
After your body contouring procedures, you will have a more sculpted, toned body that you can continue to improve with regular diet and exercise.
Plastic Surgery After Major Weight Loss FAQ
How much does plastic surgery after major weight loss cost in Phoenix?
The cost of plastic surgery after major weight loss depends on the procedures performed, the extent of each surgery, and other factors. Plastic surgery after major weight loss is an entirely personalized experience.
Dr. Boll will be happy to discuss your surgical plan at the time of your consultation and provide you with cost estimates and information about financing options to help make your plastic surgery after weight loss costs manageable.
How long will my plastic surgery after significant weight loss results last?
The results of plastic surgery after major weight loss are long lasting. This means that Dr. Boll can permanently remove excess skin and localized fat cells. However, no plastic surgery can stop the results of the natural aging process and subsequent weight gain. To maintain the results of your body contouring procedures, it is important to practice a healthy diet and exercise regimen.
Am I a candidate for plastic surgery after major weight loss?
You may be a candidate if you have sagging skin on the abdomen, thighs, back, buttocks, or arms. Patients who have lost significant weight, have drooping or flabby skin from pregnancy, or experience laxity due to the natural aging process are all candidates.
Additionally, candidates for plastic surgery after major weight loss should be in generally good health, close to their ideal weight, are nonsmokers, have a positive outlook, and have reasonable expectations for results.
How Can I Schedule Plastic Surgery After Major Weight Loss in Phoenix, AZ?
Contact Dr. Jennifer Boll in Tempe, Arizona, for a plastic surgery after major weight loss consultation by calling (480) 833-5200. One of our helpful and experienced team members will be happy to set up your appointment and answer any questions you may have.
Dr. Boll is a double board-certified plastic surgeon serving patients seeking non-surgical cosmetic procedures and advanced plastic surgery procedures, including plastic surgery after major weight loss, in Phoenix and the surrounding areas.
Kind Words From Our Patients
“Thank you all for your professional compassion and kindness while I was your patient. I feel good and appreciate all that you all have done for me. You are the best!”
“I could not have asked for better care. Dr.Boll, along with her staff, are the consummate professionals. I made a consultation appointment with Dr. Boll to discuss a facelift. She discussed, in depth, every aspect of the procedure including what I could expect for an outcome. Her kindness and compassion are genuine. Her knowledge unparalleled. I left that consultation knowing I had made the right decision.”
“Post- surgery attention was outstanding, I felt completely comfortable in Dr. Boll’s care; and I am 68, never having surgery before.”
“Thank you all for your professional compassion and kindness while I was your patient. I feel good and appreciate all that you all have done for me. You are the best!”
“I could not have asked for better care. Dr.Boll, along with her staff, are the consummate professionals. I made a consultation appointment with Dr. Boll to discuss a facelift. She discussed, in depth, every aspect of the procedure including what I could expect for an outcome. Her kindness and compassion are genuine. Her knowledge unparalleled. I left that consultation knowing I had made the right decision.”
“Post- surgery attention was outstanding, I felt completely comfortable in Dr. Boll’s care; and I am 68, never having surgery before.”