Lower Body Lift - Better All at Once or Two Separate Surgeries?

Thank you for your question. A consultation would help determine which of the following procedures is the right one for you:1)
Traditional tummy tuck: Reduces a great amount of skin laxity,
tightens the abdominal wall muscles and keeps the incision hidden in the
underwear line.2) An extended tummy tuck: Same as a tummy tuck, but helps to reduce more skin laxity around the flanks.3)
A corset tummy tuck: Adds a vertical scar and breast fold scar, but
reduces a significant amount of vertical skin laxity in addition to the
horizontal skin laxity and creates the most hour-glass type figure.
Downside is more visible scar4) A belt lipectomy (or lower body
lift) helps lift the outer thighs and buttock in addition to the
benefits of an extended tummy tuck.Options
3 and 4 usually have a significant amount of skin laxity that is being
addressed. Liposuction is usually added to all of the procedures to help
improve the results. I would recommend visiting with a board certified
plastic
surgeon who can spend time with you to explain the different options in
more detail.

Congratulations on your weight loss!

Lower body lifting done in a hospital setting with hospital inhalation anesthesia is costly, requires 1-3 days hospitalization (in most cases), and exposes you to all of the "sick" patients and hospital bacteria (can we say "resistant" everyone?) during the time when your incisions have not yet healed, and nurses touch not only you but also those other sick patients. Splitting the operation into two only doubles those concerns! Which part of that list I just wrote do you find interesting? The sad thing is that even the careful hospital-based surgeon who moves along with celerity, precision, and excellent control of blood loss STILL has to expose his or her patients to the anesthetic "routines" of the hospital and the less-than-bacteriologically-ideal environment!

How about outpatient lower body lift at a single stage for around $16000 TOTAL cost, with anesthesia techniques that allow you to walk to your car (assisted of course, and you not driving) an hour and a half after surgery is completed, with 2% risk of nausea or vomiting, good pain control (via multiple methods, each designed to help deal with a specific area or type of discomfort), NO exposure to sick patients, hospital bacteria, or operating rooms that are used for ruptured appendices, dead bowel, or "dirty" cases, a surgical team that does ONLY cosmetic surgery cases (and has 14 years of experience with outpatient lower body lifts), and did I mention that you get this superior and safer procedure for thousands less than the hospital version?

We have done over 250 outpatient lower body lifts in our accredited office surgical facility over the past 14 years, so who would recommend that you do two operations, with double the (minimal, but still double) risks, double the time off work, and increased cost? The answer is that only those surgeons who routinely have or anticipate more blood loss, increased chances of nausea and vomiting that mandate overnight admission. or lack of experience that (understandably) makes them more cautious. If you have other medical issues, then of course, outpatient lower body lifting  may not be for you, but I truly have only needed to do hospital lower body lifts in a handful of cases, and greatly prefer the safety, anesthesia skill, staff experience, and confidentiality of my office surgical facility. Lest you think I am some sort of surgical "cowboy" that takes unnecessary risks, I can truthfully tell you that we have performed over 16000 operations in our facility in the almost 20 years we have offered general anesthesia--all  without any deaths, heart attacks, or strokes. We routinely employ active anti-embolic foot pumpers to reduce the risk of blood clots, ambulate our patients early (obviously, since they go home!), and utilize full anesthesia monitoring and skilled CRNA anesthesia providers (Mayo Clinic cardiac experience, Twin Cities metro level 1 trauma hospital experience, etc.), not to mention our recovery room RNs with ACLS skills and over 45 years of combined experience (2 RNs).

Just so you know this isn't just to brag up my own practice, there are other skilled plastic surgeons who provide similar care and facilities; these practices, however, are in a very select minority and you must search a bit to find plastic surgeons with these capabilities and experience. But that is why I must humbly submit that just because there are those who do not operate at this level, you should simply accept what's out there. Interview several ABPS-certified plastic surgeons with acknowledged experience in lower body lifting and see what sounds good and what sounds bogus! Good luck and best wishes for a great result!

I prefer a lower body lift in one stage when a patient has circumferential lipodystrophy after massive weight loss.  However, if you have any significant medical problems, I will stage the procedre to minimize operative time, incision lengths to heal, and recovery.