What is approx recovery time for a lower body lift without muscle tightening?

Recovery from a lower body lift is usually about 2 weeks but may be shorter without muscle tightening. It’s important to remember that everyone heals differently and some people have a higher pain tolerance than others. I would speak with your doctor about the kind of procedure he is performing and communicate your concerns about your inner thighs. If that is a concern of yours, you may want to talk to him about performing a thigh lift at the same time as the body lift. 

The 360 circumferential lower body lift is an excellent operation to remove loose skin from the abdomen, hips, and buttocks. Usually, abdominal muscle tightening is performed during the lower body lift, but perhaps, during your tummy tuck, your muscles were already tightened. In regards to recovery time, I would give yourself 2 to 3 weeks to heal from a 360 circumferential lower body lift. Even without muscle tightening, I think one week to recover after a body lift is too short. However, every patient is different, and every plastic surgeon does things differently. Perhaps, your recovery will be sooner than two weeks. In regards to the improving your medial or inner thighs, the 360 circumferential lower body lift will improve your medial thighs only modestly. Without pictures, it is difficult to tell you exactly how much your body lift will improve your medial thighs. Without a physical examination and pictures, I would estimate that your 360 circumferential lower body lift would only improve your medial thighs by about 15 to 20%. Thank you for your questions regarding a 360 circumferential lower body lift, muscle tightening of the rectus muscles, recovery time, and inner or medial thighs. If you have any other questions regarding reconstructive plastic surgery after massive weight loss, please call my office. Whenever you are considering reconstructive plastic surgery, especially for 360 circumferential lower body lifts, please seek an experienced board certified plastic surgeon. Sincerely, Dr. Katzen.

Hello and thank you for your question.  The
best advice you can receive is from an in-person consultation.  I usually recommend two weeks off work after a lower body lift.  Perhaps you are not getting a full lower body lift?  If you have significant excess inner thigh skin laxity, then you may want to consider a thigh lift also.   Make sure you specifically look
at before and after pictures of real patients who have had this surgery
performed by your surgeon and evaluate their results.  
Best wishes and good luck.
Richard G. Reish, M.D.
Harvard-trained plastic surgeon