5'4, 52 year old female, 110lbs, skinny person thigh lift or other mix of procedures? (Photos)

Hi, thank you for your question about your thighs and buttocks and for sharing your history and photos.

First, let’s analyze your thighs. Based on your photos, the rolls of excess skin are likely due to your weight loss, genetics, and possibly the effects of previous liposuction. Since you have noticeable inner thigh skin laxity, the most reliable solution for your thighs is a thigh lift.

There are six types of thigh lifts, but in your case, you may want to consider either a crescent inner thigh lift or a modified vertical medial thigh lift:

Crescent Inner Thigh Lift: This involves removing a crescent-shaped portion of skin and fat from the inner thighs. The primary advantage is that the scar is well-hidden in the groin crease. However, this procedure is limited in how much skin it can remove and carries a risk of complications like labial spreading or scar migration down the thigh.
Modified Vertical Medial Thigh Lift: This option is likely your best choice. The incision is placed along the inner thigh seam and extends 6–8 inches down the inner thigh. This approach removes more wrinkled, excess inner thigh skin and provides a smoother contour, addressing the "Shar-Pei" appearance you mentioned.
Next, let’s address your buttocks. You have significant rolls of excess skin on the lower portion of your buttocks and hips. Since these rolls are primarily located on the buttocks rather than the thighs, a thigh lift alone will not correct this issue. Instead, you would benefit from a posterior buttock lift.

Posterior Buttock Lift: During this procedure, an incision is made across the top of the buttocks. A butterfly- or peanut-shaped section of skin and fat is removed, lifting and reducing the buttocks. This procedure tightens the lower buttocks and improves contour.
Both the thigh lift and buttock lift are performed under general anesthesia and can be done in a single surgery. Plan for a 2–3 week recovery period, and you’ll need to avoid strenuous activity during that time.

Before deciding on these procedures, I recommend consulting with several board-certified plastic surgeons who specialize in thigh and buttock lifts. They can evaluate your anatomy and goals to ensure the best possible outcome. Please choose an experienced surgeon with a strong track record in these types of body contouring procedures.

Good luck, and thank you for your question regarding your options!

Sincerely,
Dr. Katzen

Based off your photos - you have looseness of skin due to deflation over time. Some of the excess skin can be likely salvaged with increasing muscle tone in those areas - glutes, possibly medial thigh. I would recommend you try to put on some muscle weight - increasing caloric intake with high protein diet, using the gym to build back some more muscle tone for the glutes and legs then see a surgeon to see what needs to be done. Likely a little fat transfer to the glutes, an inner thigh groin lift possibly or you can try bodytite first to see if results are what you were wanting to achieve prior to committing to an inner thigh lift. But I would do it in that order to achieve best results.

Dear RenovationProject415,

it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination, you will get more information and recommendations.

Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

In this kind of body shape deformities, surgery is the best and most reliable option but it comes with one caveat which is scar.So if you are okay with scars then you should go with buttock lifting or you can ask your surgeon to place the scar down where your buttock fold is and get rid of the excess skin. Either way you will have a scar, you need to choose which you prefer.For the inner thighs a fat grafting procedure could work but you do not seem to have enough fat. Maybe a gentle liposuction from just the front parts of the thighs can be enough to fill those dents. If you would like to improve the skin quality as well, then you should choose micro needling as well but that will not affect the dents.

Thank you for posting your question here!I will base my answer on the limited data and pictures provided, for a detailed and personalized plan I would recommend that you consult with a plastic surgeon.First of all congratulations on your weight loss!, you do seem to have a lot of skin laxity, a surgical intervention will likely give you the best result ( thigh lift , infragluteal buttock tuck ...etc) , you will be trading the laxity for a scar . That being said , if you are completely agains having the scars and wish to experiment with minimally invasive options first , you won't be burning any bridges so you can proceed with that knowing that you won't have complete resolution of your issue but might notice some improvement. If that is the case I would recommend either renuvion or bodytite.I hope this helps, best of luck!

Unfortunately, not of those minor interventions like Bodytite, microneedling, or Sculptra will help; there is too much skin excess/laxity to be addressed. Only skin excising surgery will help: a right (or asymmetric bilateral) inner thigh lift and a posterior body lift (for the buttock/posterior thigh wrinkles).

Congratulations on your weight loss! From the photos it appears that due to the degree of skin laxity you are not a good candidate for BodyTite or other less invasive procedures. A short scar thigh lift should be able to improve the shape and remove hanging skin. See a board certified plastic surgeon to learn more.

Thank you for your question. Your situation is quite common. I find that the best approach is combining an infragluteal thigh lift with a medial thigh lift. This will get rid of the majority of the wrinkling on the lower buttock and also help with the inner thigh wrinkling as well. Even better would be to volumize your buttock either with Brazilian butt lift-fat transplantation or a buttock implant. You should be able to have an excellent result. Best wishes to you.

Although your laxity seems to be limited to upper thigh it is very likely that lift with both horizontal and short vertical component would be better option than one with horizontal scar placed in inguinal crease. You should make at least a couple of consultations with a board certified plastic surgeons to hear different options and their shortcomings. Good luck.

Thank you for your question. In general, the best way to correct skin excess after weight loss (or liposuction) is skin removal. Although skin can and does contract some, once you reach adulthood it is very rare for the skin to fully correct after any significant weight reduction. In your case, this would mean a thigh lift. Always seek consultation from a board certified plastic surgeon and good luck!