What Can I Do to About my Loose Skin After my Liposuction?

Without before and after pictures or seeing you in person, it is impossible to give you specific advice.  However, if you do have loose skin, then you may benefit from a mini thigh lift if that is where the loose skin in.  

Thighplasty can help tighten loose skin. If there isn't too much, you can also consider laser skin tightening. 

There are a few treatments that can tighten loose skin, but thigh lift surgery is the only that can dramatically do it, with more predictable results. Noninvasive treatments include laser skin tightening and micro needling, both of which may require several sessions to achieve noticeable results.

Loose skin after liposuction should have been discussed as a possible unwanted side effect of the procedure.  I have tried several skin "tightening" technologies including ultrasound, laser, and laser assisted liposuction.  In my opinion, they don't work very well if at all.  Excess skin can be removed by excision but this involves a scar which is seldom a suitable trade-off in the thighs.

Dear Patient,

There is a skin tightening procedure called Thermage. It is non invasive and excellent for tightening the skin. It uses radio frequency technology to heat up the collagen in your skin. As you age, the collagen in your skin breaks down resulting in sagging skin. The fact that you exercise and run is great! But sometimes that isn’t enough for our skin. Thermage will safely heat the deeper layers of your skin stimulating new collagen and promoting new collagen growth! The result is healthier, younger looking skin. A thigh lift may also be an option depending on the amount of skin laxity you have.  Good luck!

Thank you for the question.

It is difficult to give advice without direct examination.

Generally speaking, it is probably in your best interest to avoid any further surgery ( or gimmicky heavily marketed miracle technology) at this point. Give your skin the benefit of the doubt of at least one year after surgery to contract back.

If at that point you still have significant skin then it may be worth thinking about some skin excision ( but only as a last resort given the resulting scars etc.).

I hope this helps.

When trying to improve the thighs two things can be done. Either liposuction or thigh lift. Problem with the thigh lift is the scars and most times you would be forced because there is a large amount of excess skin to do the procedure.

Liposuction can sometimes get some skin contracture if a superficial liposuction is done. The other thing that can sometimes be done is to do liposuction circumferentially around the thigh to try to get the skin contracture from one area to help tighten another.

In my experience you always get some skin contraction with liposuction the question is whether or not it will be enough to deal with the excess skin.

There are several things that need to be considered when you have Liposuction of the thighs especially the medial thighs. Liposuction removes fat. Skin contraction happens but the degree it happens depends on a lot of factors. What many fail to realize is that after pregnancy the supporting structures are stretched. Because the  fascial system in the thighs is in continuity with the abdominal fascial system which  has been stretched laxity of the medial thigh results. Removing only fat will result in worsening of the laxity in many cases. Sometimes improvement can be gotten as a benefit of abdominoplasty if the fascial system has been repaired but a medial thigh lift will most likely be necessary.

Loose skin is a sequelae of liposuction more so in some areas than others.  The area you mentioned as in the thighs is a very common area of poor skin quality.  If it is severe, then a small thigh lift may improve it.

If you have skin laxity, liposuction will not correct and may worsen the appearance and "jiggling" of your thighs. You should see a plastic surgeon about whether you would benefit from a thigh lift.