Ugly Skin Folds After Significant Weight Loss?

Morpheus 8 is a non-invasive skin and soft tissue tightening treatment that is consistently amazing in our patients. We use the Morpheus to exact fractional induced RF into the skin or tissue in order to tighten collagen and stimulate contraction of the tissue. For acne scars, it is quite useful to build collagen in patients who have atrophic scars but is not very productive for ice-pick scars which require TCA Cross. For tissue tightening, Morpheus is ideal for the face and neck and we often combine it with CO2 laser or Ultherapy to further enhance results. Chemical peels and skin resurfacing should be done at least 5 to 7 days after, but can be performed earlier, depending on treatment severity. Avoid exfoliating skin treatments before Morpheus and expect a period of 2-4 weeks for skin contraction to set in.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

A combination of non-surgical options like Kybella, PDO NovaThreads, Ultherapy and Thermage would do well in combination for skin tightening for the neck. VASER Liposuction (with ThermiRF, Renuvion and InMode FaceTite) is a great alternative for contouring and tightening the chin and neck and can be combined with a neck lift at the same time, if you're a candidate. I suggest getting a formal evaluation with a cosmetic dermatologist to develop a long-term treatment plan that works for you. Best, Dr. Emer.

Great to hear of your recent weight loss success! It's difficult to assess your inquiry online without photos to view. Depending on the level of laxity, the effects of a neck lift will certainly outlast the effects of non-surgical treatments. Non-surgical procedures can only temporary resolve the issue and require few to several attempts or treatment appointments. The presence of banding down the front of the #neck, and, amount of excess skin and condition of your skin are among some factors which determine if you are a #candidate for #rejuvenating the neck. During an in-person examination, your chin will be evaluated along with the neck and jawline. A weak #chin implies a lack of chin support for the skin along the neck line. In younger individuals a chin implant alone is usually all that is needed to improve the appearance of the neck. Subsequently, it will also improve the overall #balance of the face and can create the illusion of a smaller nose. As a stand-alone procedure, chin augmentation can be performed in the office under local #anesthesia. For individuals with signs of #aging in the neck, a chin implant added to one of the recommended procedures above, will provide optimal results.
A board certified plastic surgeon should evaluate both your anatomical features and aesthetic goals to suggest which procedure best suits your needs. In some cases there may be more than one option to choose from and and if you are not a candidate at the time of your #consultation, your board surgeon can recommend alternatives to address your concern.

  This is exactly the situation where a neck lift would be invaluable in relieving the saggy excess neck skin.  No other procedure will offer similar results to this.

There is no way to answer your question without photos or a face to face examination. Unless the excess skin is minor in my experience the only way to treat it is to surgically remove the excess. If the excess skin is significant you would be wasting time and money on a non-surgical approach.

I hope you realize that this format of posting questions and receiving answers lacks the face to face direct communication required for you to make an informed decision regarding your surgery.

My response to your question/post does not represent formal medical advice or constitute a doctor patient relationship. You need to consult with i.e. personally see a board certified plastic surgeon in order to receive a formal evaluation and develop a doctor patient relationship.


 

If you have recently lost a significant amount of weight your skin may appear loose. It can take up to a year for the skin to tighten, so if the laxity is mild, doing nothing may be a good plan.

For severe laxity, or laxity that is persisting more than a year, the problem may be more than the skin being overstretched. With prolonged stretching, the skin may grow, and extra skin is not likely to disappear.

Many therapuetic options have emerged recently, but having a procedure done because it is new is not conservative. Many claim "surgical" results without surgery, but none are as predictabe as a lift.

I cannot make any specific recommendations without seeing you, but a consultation appointment will get you information specific to your needs and no surgery is involved. This way you can decide what is most likely to get you the results you want, and if it is worth pursuing.

Good luck.

The link below provides some additional information about face lifts and neck lifts.

An examination would be needed first, but if you have mild to moderate skin laxity you may be a candidate for FaceTite. This minimally invasive procedure uses RF technology to tighten skin. No general anesthesia is required for this option. It is for those who are not quite yet ready for a surgical lift. I've included a video that I hope you find helpful.

The modality to be used to im-prove neck contour  is based on the physical exam. Non-invasive therapies are only useful for minor corrections. Skin only incision are not useful because skin is elastic and will only relax over time. Any excess skin will have to be removed but that is only half the solution. More often than not, the underlying structure (muscle, deep and superficial fat) need to be tightened, some removed and repositioned. This type of lift tightens the neck muscle (platysma) if they are loose or splayed. During this procedure a 3cm incision is made just behind the chin crease and the muscle in the neck is accessed and tightened with sutures in way a corset would be tightened. Chin implant and liposuction can be done through this same incision. See a board certified plastic surgeon for a treatment plan specific to your needs.

Hello,

Thank you for the question.  We (as plastic surgeons and the industry as  a whole) have not yet come up with a non-invasive option to significantly tighten skin  long term.  There are a number of technologies that aim to do so with results that are less dramatic than surgery.  Among these technologies Ulthera seems to be the highest rated among the consumers that have voted here on RealSelf.  If you have significant skin and soft tissue laxity of the face and neck after weight loss and would like to achieve moderate to significant correction I would recommend that you persue and neck-lift/face-lift procedure.  If you are ok with mild correction of the laxity and would like to try out a non-invasive treatment first you may want to look into Ultherapy.

All the best,

Dr Remus Repta

The ability of skin to retract or shrink wrap to your new, smaller underlying body would depend on your age, race, skin condition and location on the body. In general, young skin will shrink better than old skin, skin on the back will shrink much better than inner thigh skin and skin of Asians and Blacks shrinks better than similar condition freckly white skin. The presence of stretch marks indicates cracking of the skin and loss of elasticity and the ability of skin to retract well.

There is NO proven, safe way to shrink skin without surgery. Surgical removal and body contouring are the best ways to smooth excess hanging skin at this time.

Peter A Aldea, MD