Excess Lower Back Skin from Weight Loss. How to Correct It?

Question

I have lose a lot of weight, I have excess skin in my lower back(along with my stomach) but for the back part bothers me the most. Is there any hope to correcting this?

Frank Agullo, MD · Answer

If there is excess skin, it must be excised to improve the contour. A lower body lift will address the excess skin in your entire trunk, including the abdomen, lateral thighs, flanks, back, and upper buttocks. SOme of this extra skin and fat can be used as a flap to augment your buttocks at the same time. From El Paso.

J. Timothy Katzen, MD, FACS · Answer

Congratulations on your weight loss! After massive weight loss, it is not uncommon to have excess skin and fat of the lower back.   To remove excess skin and fat of the lower back, you may require a posterior lower body lift. This would entail an incision from one hip to the top of the buttock, and extending to the other hip.  Your resulting scar follows the top of the buttocks. Typically, the scar is underneath your belt line.  Through this upper buttock incision, excess skin and fat of the lower back is removed and the buttocks are raised.  If you are concerned about a small buttock, this excess fat can be reinserted.  To augment the buttock, the fat can be injected as a fat transfer to the buttock or can be rotated as a flap on top of the buttock.
If your abdomen bothers you, the posterior body lift can be extended anteriorly.  The resulting surgery is a 360 lower body lift. This procedure would not only eliminate lower back skin and fat, but it would also eliminate excess skin and fat of bilateral hips and abdomen.
I hope this answered your question regarding the removal of excess lower back skin after weight loss.
Good luck with your weight loss journey. If you have any questions, please contact my office. Sincerely, Dr. Katzen

Richard J. Bruneteau, MD · Answer

It's always difficult to make a treatment recommendation without pictures or a physical examination. In this case, your history suggests significant amounts of redundant abdominal and back tissue.Under these circumstances, you would probably be an excellent candidate for a lower body lift. This procedure would remove excess abdominal and back tissue. It would also lift your buttocks in an upward direction.If you're considering lower body lift surgery, it's important to consult a board certified plastic surgeon with experience in this area. This surgeon should be able to formulate a treatment plan that addresses your anatomic findings while achieving your aesthetic goals.

Richard H. Tholen, MD, FACS · Answer

If you wish only for the lower back skin excess to be dealt with, a lateral thigh/buttock lift will do the job. Then, after you complete your recovery and return to work, the loose abdominal skin that you didn't think bothered you as much will start to drive you wild! Maybe not, but probably, and then you will question the wisdom of saving the money you would have spent on a beltlift (lower body lift), since now you will spend somewhat more in total cost, as well as have to take off work or social activities again. You see what I mean.

	The real problem, I suspect, is finding plastic surgeons who do enough buttock/lateral thigh lifts or lower body lifts to give you good advice and a feeling of confidence about either procedure. Find one or more and seek their advice and recommendations about the pros and cons of either or both options. Make sure you are consulting with American Board of Plastic Surgery-certified plastic surgeons, first, as many "cosmetic surgeons" have neither the training nor the surgical capability to do either of these operations properly.

	Also, realize that upper back excisions will NOT adequately correct excess skin laxity in the lower back. Each area requires its own surgical treatment--one operation will not "fix" both areas of concern. Good luck!

Kevin Brenner, MD, FACS · Answer

From what you have described, it sounds like you would benefit from a circumferential belt lipectomy. A belt lipectomy (or lower body lift), is a great operation for correcting excess laxity and redundancy of skin along the anterior abdomen and lower posterior back.

Otto Joseph Placik, MD · Answer

Essentially what you need is a circumferential belt lipectomy. this accomplishes a tummy tuck, outer thigh, and buttock lift. In severe cases you may benefit from an upper back lift.

Armando Soto, MD, FACS · Answer

Hi there-

	As you can quickly see by reviewing the reviews and photos in the Lower Body Lift section of this website, for people like yourself who have lost a lot of weight a well-done lower body lift procedure will likely change your life in such a positive way- you will most likely wish you had done it sooner.

	Congratulations on your weight loss- and remember to keep your safety first- by choosing a surgeon certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery.

	Here's some advice on how to find someone you like and can trust:

John LoMonaco, MD, FACS · Answer

This generally requires either a lower body lift to pullt he wrinkles down, or an upper body lift to pull them upwards.

	I attached some examples below.

Sugene Kim, MD, FACS · Answer

If you are considering a lower body lift - this procedure (LBL) is also referred to as  circumferential body lift = belt lipectomy.  This procedure is essentially 3 procedures in one: extended tummy tuck + waist/lateral thigh lift + buttock lift.  The buttock lift can also include buttock augmentation.  The lateral thigh lift will help contour the lateral aspect of your thighs.  The procedure can taken between 5-7 hours depending on the amount of tissue/skin that needs removal/treatment.  Please see a board certified plastic surgeon to learn more about your options.

	Dr. Sugene Kim

Leo Keegan, MD · Answer

There is always hope but it depends on how tolerant you are of scars. Once the skin is hanging loose there is no way to significantly tighten it without an excisional procedure and that will always result in a scar. That is the trade off.

Excess Lower Back Skin from Weight Loss. How to Correct It?

Answers (19)

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