Any advice on what I can expect regarding scarring from a body lift?

Dear Charina:
Scarring is multivariable. It depends on your skin color, maximum weight loss, age, and genetics, to name just a few. Other factors that impact your scar include the surgical technique, tension of the wound and sutures used. Postoperative events that can positively impact scars and make them look better include application of compression, application of silicon strips, and application of scar creams containing silicon. Scars can also be revised if they are unacceptable though this has been extremely rare in my practice. If scars need to be revised, they can perhaps be lasered, or even the scar directly excised. Arm scars usually are well-tolerated amongst my weight loss patients. Almost all of my patients would rather get rid of the excess skin inside of their arms and live with the scar than forever live with the excess skin trapped at the arms. Body lift scars around the center of your abdomen, hips and buttocks also heal very well. Again, very few of my body lift patients have needed scar revisions, but the options mentioned above are available should it be necessary. Please view link for more pictures of arm lifts and body lifts. Thank you, Dr.J Timothy Katzen, M.D.

Thank you for your question. As with any surgery, scarring is expected. There are various scar gels that can be used as treatment post surgery. I would advise you to schedule a consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon for a detailed examination to discuss all possible treatment options and what your expectations are.

It's not unusual for patients to be concerned about scarring following massive weight loss surgery. It's safe to say that it's impossible to perform this type of surgery without scarring. These operations trade stretch marks, loose skin, and weakened muscles for a scar that's, hopefully, well positioned. The patient's unique anatomy will have a profound impact upon scar placement. Each patient is unique and it's, therefore, essential to have good communication between the patient and surgeon. I find it very helpful to perform pre-operative markings to minimize confusion regarding incision placement.Even when extreme care is taken, wound healing problems may still occur. It's important to realize that wound healing is a dynamic process which varies from patient to patient. For these reasons, scars may take over a year to reach maturity. When scars are less than optimal, scar revision may be necessary and this usually results in a satisfied patient.

The lower bodylift surgery is essentially an abdominoplasty scar in the front, plus the same type of scar in the lower back.  The surgery is circumferential (Tummy tuck in the front, thighlift on the sides and buttocklift in the back) and the scar is placed as low as possible to anatomically best contour the body, while keeping the eventual scar hidden in bikini bottoms or underwear. Dr. B

Scaring after body
lift in general is not a major problem.
Patients after major weigh loss normally have loss skin that produces reduction
in tension allowing the tissues to heal kindly.
Arms are predisposed to produce thicker
scar but using careful surgical techniques to close the skin can minimize those

Brachioplasty and Body Lift Scarring

In general, most surgical body lift procedures will leave long scars - this is because it is the only way to remove a lot of redundant skin. The scarring on your arm would be minimized by having it on the underside of your arm towards your body and is often hairline in appearance. These may fade to white or widen and stay red for considerable periods of time before they heal. Scars can sometimes be improved with topical medication or lasers but will never completely disappear. This is usually considered a worthwhile trade-off by most patients to remove all of their unwanted hanging skin and fat.

 

A Body Lift , consists usually of doing a Arm Lift , Thigh Lift , and a Tummy Tuck , in most surgery's you will have a incision scar but they all fade away with time each body is different and scars differently some people have bad scaring but that could be hereditary , if you have had a scar before because of a fall or any other type of surgery you can usually with that determine sort of how you will tend to scar , but most people do in the beginning have noticeable scaring and with time it does fade eventually looking like a line of a stretch mark almost invisible. The Arm Lift scar is usually the most visible one it goes from the armpit down to the elbow, it is noticeable until certain point but it is the surgery were you also see the result the quickest , almost after the surgery you see your results which is very exciting. I think in the beginning it is hard to see those scars but time goes so fast after a while the scaring diminishes and all you see are your results and is very exciting , I personally think it's worth it the scar only lasts a bit , but the result is forever. That also goes for the thigh lift and tummy tuck the incisions are made around the body's natural contouring so they can be covered with your day to day clothing and eventually not even notice you had a scar there. 

The scar following a body lift typically goes all the way around the body at the top of the hips, pubic hair line and top of the buttock.  An arm lift is also called a brachioplasty.  It involves a scar that runs along the inside of the arm from elbow to arm pit. 

Plastic surgery after weight loss is a tread off between scar versus contour improvement.  I have done many lower and total body lift surgeries and virtually all patients have been very happy with their decision.  However, you need to select a plastic surgeon who specializes in this filed since your results ultimately depends on the selected surgeon.  Below is a link of before and after pictures of my body lift patients.

You have to decide which would be worse...the scar or the saggy skin.  There are options when choosing your arm scar placement, so discuss these with your surgeon.

Several options for surgery plus helpful information about all procedures following weight loss are outlined in the book Bariatric Plastic Surgery, linked below.