5'7, 150lbs & skin is too tight after TT, what can I do to help it relax and loosen? (photos)

Hello Powerful261948. Thank you for your question regarding what can be done to help your skin relax and loosen after a tummy tuck.

Your skin naturally loosens over time. I wouldn’t recommend doing anything to actively "stretch" out your skin, as this could cause more harm than good. Based on your history and photos, it seems like your right thigh has healed differently than your left, creating an asymmetry.

To address the tightness and asymmetry, you might consider deep tissue massage to help break up scar tissue and improve the elasticity of your skin. Additionally, fat grafting or fillers could help balance the flatness on your left hip and create a more symmetrical and curvy appearance. This procedure involves transferring fat from another area of your body to the area that needs more volume.

It's important to consult with your plastic surgeon to discuss these options and determine the best course of action. They can provide a more tailored approach to help you achieve the look you desire.

Good luck, and I hope this helps to answer your question regarding skin relaxation and symmetry correction.

Sincerely,

J. Timothy Katzen, MD, FASMBS, FICS

Dear Powerful261948,
I understand your concern. However, without a proper assessment, it would be difficult to determine what went wrong. It is best that you visit your plastic surgeon for further assessment or ask for a second opinion. Only after a thorough examination, you can get proper recommendations and advice.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Yes, your skin will loosen over time after a tummy tuck. If you have recently had surgery you do not need to do anything if you don't want to. It will loosen on its own. If it has been a year or more since surgery you can consider gently stretching and massage.

Skin always loosens with time and age. You can massage the areas as well. I hate to mention this, but you could gain weight and then loose it to stretch out your kind.

In order for us to make an assessment we need to know how long ago your surgery was done.
We also need to see proper before and after pictures. If you don’t have before and after pictures then ask your surgeon to forward the ones they took.
Tightness is common after a full tummy tuck especially a wraparound procedure. If you’re not pulled tight during surgery the tissues will stretch out or you will not maintain a quality long-term outcome.
It takes a long time for some people to get used to the changes of this major operation.
For some people it can take several years before they feel comfortable with the changes their body is undergone from this procedure.
A few weeks or a few months is a very short amount of time in regards to recovering and feeling comfortable.
The sensation of tightness can be managed by gentle stretching exercises. If things feel beyond what you are able to handle then consider asking for a referral for physical therapy in order to set objective goals in regards to range of motion exercises to combat tightness especially with movement.
Delivering consistent quality liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe. The time to assess surgeons is before your operation.
Having Liposuction and a thigh lift done at the same time is a lot of work and some irregularities are probably the norm.
Ideally revision work should be discussed during consultations so patients have a good idea of what each providers policy is regarding revision work.
Liposuction is a permanent and more or less irreversible procedure. Small amounts of fat can be built up in certain areas with fat transfer but not to the point of reversing an aggressive liposuction procedure.
Delivering consistent quality liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe and the number of plastic surgeons who do Liposuction truly well on a regular basis is relatively small.
The procedure is more difficult than most people believe and a substantial number of plastic surgeons do not take Liposuction seriously or bother recognizing that mastering body contouring has a long intense learning curve that needs to be overcome in order to master the procedure.
Patients should be very selective when choosing providers for permanent and irreversible operations.
To choose providers correctly patient should have multiple in person consultations at which time they should ask providers to open up their entire portfolios of before and after pictures and review as many pictures as allowed to get confirmation that typical results are within the quality you’re looking for.
I recommend patients ask providers to show as many pictures as possible of previous patients who have similar body characteristics. Ask providers to show you a variety of outcomes including excellent outcomes, average outcomes and outcomes that did not turn out as well as they had hoped for. All plastic surgeons will have a variety of outcomes and should have sufficient number of before and after pictures to create a clear understanding of what average results will look like on someone with your candidacy.
Again, having a thigh lift in addition to liposuction makes the procedure more complex.
It may be difficult to restore fat that’s been removed where you feel your body was left with skin on bone.
Fat grafting or fat transfer is primarily limited based on if there is or isn’t host tissue available to support grafted fat. In areas that have been treated aggressively leaving very little soft tissue there is very little host tissue to support grafts and fat transfer is often not particularly successful.
For your uneven thighs you need to have that assessed to decipher if it’s more related to skin excision or fat distribution.
Most likely a touchup liposuction procedure should be able to even out your inner thighs sufficiently to get a better outcome.
At this point it’s a little late to go through and find the right provider so I suggest you work with The surgeon who did your procedure.
If you find you’re not getting the care you need then at that point you should consider scheduling second opinion consultations.
For a second opinion consultations patients should come prepared and bring you with them all before and after pictures and a copy of your operative report. these are all available from your surgeons office if you request them.
For major surgical procedures it’s a good idea to slow down and give yourself plenty of time to recover before making a final assessment or making decisions or conclusions about revision work.
Six months is usually an absolute minimum but generally slowing down and giving yourself as much time to heal as possible is in your interest.
Body contouring of the lower extremities is technically challenging and the number of providers who can do a thigh lift with aggressive liposuction with close to perfect symmetry is probably not all that common. treating the torso is technically easier and this seems to be true in your case as well.
Your early results show competent work.
With that much work some touch up or revisions may be very reasonable to expect and it should’ve been discussed during a consultation before surgery.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD