Body Contouring Is an Essential Part of Bariatric Surgery
Bariatric surgery is a life-changing procedure, not just medically, but cosmetically. Patients who lose large amounts of weight very quickly end up with excess skin that often leaves them feeling disappointed with how they look. That is why post bariatric body contouring should be an essential part of a patient's bariatric surgery treatment plan.
How Disappointment Can Lead to Depression
Patients undergoing weight loss surgery are able to lose large quantities of weight more quickly than they could with diet and exercise. For some, time is of the essence if they are going to avoid complications from side effects of obesity such as obstructive sleep apnea, high blood pressure, diabetes, and degenerative joint disease.
However, there's a high cost to losing weight rapidly.
As NBC News reports:
"We all carry with us reminders of the person we used to be. It's just a lot more literal for some than others. People who lose a massive amount of weight are often surprised at how unhappy they still are with their bodies. The fat is gone, but all that skin that held it in place? It didn't go anywhere.
"It's a less explored part of extreme weight loss. The body may be lighter, but it's now weighed down with folds of sagging skin, causing a wild amount of emotional and physical (think: chafing) pain."
Sadly, when this happens, patients who have worked hard and remained disciplined to lose the weight are at risk for regaining it simply because they get depressed when looking in the mirror. They expected to love their new bodies, perhaps even looking forward to showing them off and getting dressed in fitted clothing. Unfortunately, those feelings of eager anticipation quickly give way to shock, and even dread.
Patients who do their homework in advance are not immune to these feelings. Even if they knew they would have excess skin after surgery, they are surprised by how bad they feel about it. Often, they are so eager to be lighter and healthier they think it won't be a problem or that they will get used to it. The truth is, they rarely do.
Also from the NBC report:
"Deborah Olmstead, who first had weight loss surgery done in 2001, knew to expect it, too; she just didn't know how awful it would make her feel.
"I was not really comfortable even looking at myself in the mirror, with all the excess flesh," said Olmstead. "You've done all this work, you've made this big, massive change that you see on the scale, but you don't necessarily see it in your clothing, or the way you feel about yourself."
Pain only makes this feeling worse. Chafing, which causes open sores that heal slowly or not at all, can be so bad it keeps patients up at night. Lack of sleep only makes feelings of depression worse and patients who've come so far may start eating again as a coping mechanism.
How Body Contouring Helps
Research published in the October 2013 edition of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, found that seven years after gastric bypass, patients who underwent body contouring surgery achieved an average weight of 176 pounds, and those with bariatric surgery alone, 220 pounds. After accounting for the weight of excess skin removed, average weight regain was about 14 pounds in patients who had gastric bypass plus body contouring, compared to nearly 50 pounds with gastric bypass only.
While correlation is certainly not causation, it does stand to reason that patients who feel better about their results are more likely to stick to the routines that enable them to keep the weight off after surgery. Since there is no way other than cosmetic body contouring surgery to lose the excess sagging skin most bariatric surgery patients have, it's important that these procedures at least be considered as part of the treatment plan.
Even if a patient elects not to undergo additional cosmetic surgery, they should at least be educated and prepared for the possibility that their skin will not have the elasticity to retract as fully as they might like on its own. But again, even with preparation, it's hard to know how they will feel about it until it happens.
Usually, patients who have body contouring done pick a circumferential body lift: doctors make an incision across the back, then around the flanks and abdomen, cutting away some of the excess skin and tightening the rest of it by suturing the incision back together. After the body contouring is done, patients routinely lose another 10 to 15 pounds of loose skin alone.
If you are planning, or have had bariatric surgery for weight loss, do what you can to prepare yourself for the eventuality of excess skin. Talk to one of our caring and experienced surgeons about how body contouring surgery can help you achieve the results you're hoping for.
How Disappointment Can Lead to Depression
Patients undergoing weight loss surgery are able to lose large quantities of weight more quickly than they could with diet and exercise. For some, time is of the essence if they are going to avoid complications from side effects of obesity such as obstructive sleep apnea, high blood pressure, diabetes, and degenerative joint disease.
However, there's a high cost to losing weight rapidly.
As NBC News reports:
"We all carry with us reminders of the person we used to be. It's just a lot more literal for some than others. People who lose a massive amount of weight are often surprised at how unhappy they still are with their bodies. The fat is gone, but all that skin that held it in place? It didn't go anywhere.
"It's a less explored part of extreme weight loss. The body may be lighter, but it's now weighed down with folds of sagging skin, causing a wild amount of emotional and physical (think: chafing) pain."
Sadly, when this happens, patients who have worked hard and remained disciplined to lose the weight are at risk for regaining it simply because they get depressed when looking in the mirror. They expected to love their new bodies, perhaps even looking forward to showing them off and getting dressed in fitted clothing. Unfortunately, those feelings of eager anticipation quickly give way to shock, and even dread.
Patients who do their homework in advance are not immune to these feelings. Even if they knew they would have excess skin after surgery, they are surprised by how bad they feel about it. Often, they are so eager to be lighter and healthier they think it won't be a problem or that they will get used to it. The truth is, they rarely do.
Also from the NBC report:
"Deborah Olmstead, who first had weight loss surgery done in 2001, knew to expect it, too; she just didn't know how awful it would make her feel.
"I was not really comfortable even looking at myself in the mirror, with all the excess flesh," said Olmstead. "You've done all this work, you've made this big, massive change that you see on the scale, but you don't necessarily see it in your clothing, or the way you feel about yourself."
Pain only makes this feeling worse. Chafing, which causes open sores that heal slowly or not at all, can be so bad it keeps patients up at night. Lack of sleep only makes feelings of depression worse and patients who've come so far may start eating again as a coping mechanism.
How Body Contouring Helps
Research published in the October 2013 edition of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, found that seven years after gastric bypass, patients who underwent body contouring surgery achieved an average weight of 176 pounds, and those with bariatric surgery alone, 220 pounds. After accounting for the weight of excess skin removed, average weight regain was about 14 pounds in patients who had gastric bypass plus body contouring, compared to nearly 50 pounds with gastric bypass only.
While correlation is certainly not causation, it does stand to reason that patients who feel better about their results are more likely to stick to the routines that enable them to keep the weight off after surgery. Since there is no way other than cosmetic body contouring surgery to lose the excess sagging skin most bariatric surgery patients have, it's important that these procedures at least be considered as part of the treatment plan.
Even if a patient elects not to undergo additional cosmetic surgery, they should at least be educated and prepared for the possibility that their skin will not have the elasticity to retract as fully as they might like on its own. But again, even with preparation, it's hard to know how they will feel about it until it happens.
Usually, patients who have body contouring done pick a circumferential body lift: doctors make an incision across the back, then around the flanks and abdomen, cutting away some of the excess skin and tightening the rest of it by suturing the incision back together. After the body contouring is done, patients routinely lose another 10 to 15 pounds of loose skin alone.
If you are planning, or have had bariatric surgery for weight loss, do what you can to prepare yourself for the eventuality of excess skin. Talk to one of our caring and experienced surgeons about how body contouring surgery can help you achieve the results you're hoping for.
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