Weight Loss After Body Lift

During the healing period, you will have reduced activities, and modest fluctuations in weight (up or down) should not affect your overall result to any great degree. That being said, if you have not yet reached a healthy plateau in your weight, it is best to defer surgery so you will get the best result possible.

As far as "harsh," I have been doing outpatient body lifts in our accredited office surgical facility for 13 years, and we have over 250 body lift cases during this period of time (obviously, more recently). Our patients often walk (assisted) to their cars, and every patient is expected to return the next day for recheck. Patients are up and moving around, and often require no strong pain medication after a few days. Some require longer; every patient is different.

What you need to know is that body lifting does NOT HAVE to be a "big operation" requiring hospital stay or expensive inpatient care and surgery. I believe that not exposing patients to other sick patients or hospital bacteria is a significant benefit of outpatient surgery that forces patients to be up, active, and moving around, which further reduces the risk of blood clots.

Thank you for your question regarding losing further weight or weight loss after your body lift procedure. If you plan on losing weight, I would suggest you lose the weight before your body lift procedure. Once your weight is stabilized for at least three months, you are ready for a 360 circumferential lower body lift. If you lose weight after the body lifts, your skin will shrink-wrap around your new body. It is exceedingly rare that patients lose so much weight that they will need a revision after their 360 circumferential lower body lift. The body lift should be performed by an experienced board-certified plastic surgeon who has performed hundreds of body lifts. If performed correctly, the 360 circumferential lower body lift should give you a lifetime of permanent results. These permanent results should last even if you have permanent weight loss.
Sincerely,
Dr. Katzen

When weight loss occurs following lower body lift surgery, the response varies from patient to patient depending upon a multitude of variables. When weight loss is relatively minor, the vast majority of patients don't notice changes in their bodies. In contrast, significant weight loss can result in the development of loose, saggy skin.Under these circumstances, revisional lower body lift surgery may be necessary. For these reasons, we generally recommend that patients be within 10% of their ideal body weight before proceeding with lower body lift surgery. When this approach is taken, the need for secondary revisional surgery is markedly decreased.

This is highly
dependent upon how much weight is lost. A modest weight loss of 10 to 20 pounds
can enhance tummy tuck results. A 50 pound weight loss, on the other hand,
could negatively impact the skin tone over the abdomen and other areas. It is
best to be at a weight that can be maintained before pursuing body lift
surgery.

One area where pre-operative screening is key is when making plans for body lifting.  I need to know that they have achieved a weight within 10% of their goal.  For example, if the realistic goal is 150 pounds, then 165 is okay but 175 is not.  Body lifting is a big step.  We (the patient and I) need to be sure that it is a single step and not just the first rung of a staircase that may never end.  The best policy is:  Do it once and do it right!

Depending on your size before a body lift, some weight loss after the procedure can improve the result. If you have already lost the majority of your weight and you have the surgery a small amount of weight loss will not affect the result.  However, if you are just starting the process of weight loss and have a body lift to jump start the process then additional weight loss will improve the result. Often patients elect to have liposuction to improve the total body contour at the time of a body lift.