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  • What's the Major Risk of a Thigh Lift? Real Housewives of Atlanta's Phaedra Parks Gets the Answer
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Phaedra Parks: I know you talked about doing the body lift, but with thighs I would think thighs would be similar to the arms. What can you do to improve that when you have all that excess skin from major weight loss or weight loss surgery?

Dr. Robert Centeno: You're absolutely right. The thighs are very similar to the arms, and there are a variety of procedures that can be used for the thighs. The two most common ones are a medial thigh lift, which is an incision in the groin crease, and the extended thigh lift which is groin crease and down the inside of the leg.

How do you choose between those two? If your looseness is the upper one-third of the thigh, the medial thigh lift will do you well. If the looseness goes beyond that then you need an extended thigh lift.

Again, the most important issue is how much residual fat do you have there. If there is any extra fat, make sure your thigh lift is combined with liposuction to get the best contour, the most tightness, and the best shape.

Finally, the most important thing for a thigh lift surgery is what we call Colles' fascia.

Phaedra Parks: What is Colles' fascia?

Dr. Robert Centeno: All patients who have a thigh lift should know about Colles' fascia and be concerned about it. One of the most dreaded complications of a thigh lift, if done in inexperienced hands, is migration of the groin crease scar down onto the thigh causing distortion of the labia and genital reason. The reason it's dreaded is it's very difficult to correct and it's a permanent problem.

Prevention is the best treatment. The way we do that is Colles' fascia is a thick, fibrous layer of the part of the pelvis. We anchor the tissue securely to Colles' fascia to prevent that scar migration.

There's one other technique called a dermal anchoring technique where we use the Colles' fascia, the deep fascia, and a de-epithelialized part of your skin to create a nice strong bond, so even in loose tissues we can get a secure bond which prevents scar migration and labial distortion.

What's the Major Risk of a Thigh Lift? Real Housewives of Atlanta's Phaedra Parks Gets the Answer

Real Housewives of Atlanta's Phaedra Parks sits down with Dr. Robert F. Centeno to discuss what weight loss patients can do to improve their thighs. They also reveal one major risk associated with the procedure.