Is the scar worth it on a thigh lift/lipo? (photo)

Weight loss prior to surgery may produce the best result, but an exam would be necessary to make a determination. Find a plastic surgeon with ELITE credentials who performs hundreds of body contouring procedures each year. Look at website before and after photos and decide which surgeon can give the results you desire. Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

Hello and thank you for your question. If your goals are to reduce the volume to your upper thighs weight loss (ensuring your BMI is within recommended limits to reduce complications and ensure longevity of results), along with liposuction and possible skin excision could be an option to address your concerns. Typically the surgeon can discuss the pros/cons and give recommendations on scar placement and size for you and if you would prefer to keep a scar shorter you should still be able to do this while addressing the upper thighs. Your surgeon should give you an idea of how that would affect the results and provide helpful feedback for you.

Hello, Jules73 in Sydney. Thank you for your question regarding whether the scar from a thigh lift/lipo is worth it.

Thank you for your history and your pictures. Based on your pictures, you have excess skin and fat on your inner thighs. Most of the excess skin and fat appears to be on the top third or top half of your inner or medial thigh. A physical examination is in order to confirm this, but based on your pictures, you may be able to get by with what is called a modified longitudinal vertical medial thigh lift.

During this procedure, liposuction is performed on the front, inside, and outside of your thighs. Then, an incision is made from the groin partially down the inner thigh. From your pictures, it appears that you do not need the incision all the way down to your knees; it would likely end about halfway down your inner thigh.

If you only undergo thigh liposuction, you will be left with hanging thigh skin. Therefore, some type of thigh lift is necessary to remove the excess thigh skin. As for whether the thigh lift scar is worth it, that is ultimately up to you. There will be significant improvement in your thigh skin and fat, but the trade-off is a scar. Whether the scar is worth it depends on your personal interpretation and how much the excess skin and fat bother you.

I hope this information helps answer your questions regarding the necessity and worth of a thigh lift and liposuction.

Sincerely,

J. Timothy Katzen, MD, FASMBS, FICS
Plastic Surgeon

If you have large fatty thighs then liposuction alone will not correct your problem. The liposuction will get rid of the fat but you are correct when you say that you will have lose floppy skin. I think the best results for your thighs are liposuction as well as skin excision. The vertical scar does not need to come down to the knees. As a plastic surgeon I am usually conscious of the fact that females may want to wear a skirt and I would attempt to make the scar less visible and not take it down this far.The other option is to just perform the liposuction to begin with and see how this looks and feels and if you are happy with the excess skin or it is not as obvious as you may think, and acceptable then you do not need to have the skin excision, in which case you will not have the scars.RegardsStephen Salerno