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The Most Common Body Contouring Procedures After Weight Loss

People achieve significant weight loss in many ways, including weight loss medications or surgeries, after pregnancy, or as a result of lifestyle changes like diet and exercise habits. Following weight loss, the skin might not have the resiliency or elasticity to bounce back to its original shape. Body contouring procedures can help eliminate the remaining pockets of fat and redundant or sagging skin that remain after weight loss success.

As a body contouring specialist, Dr. Robyn Daugherty can help you restore your appearance and improve your confidence on your aesthetic and fitness journey. Here is information about the most common body contouring after weight loss procedures that might help you improve your contours and enhance your proportions.

What Is Body Contouring, and Who Needs It After Weight Loss?

People typically gain weight gradually, allowing their skin to stretch over time. However, when losing a significant amount of weight, especially with interventions like weight loss medications or surgeries or following pregnancy, the skin might not have enough resiliency or elasticity to return to its original state. This can cause loose or sagging skin in many areas, including the abdomen, thighs, arms, breasts, and face.

Body contouring procedures remove loose, sagging skin, skin folds, and pockets of stubborn fat that remain after reaching one’s weight loss goals. By addressing the extra skin and remaining fat, a plastic surgeon can restore smoother contours and proportions.

How Can Liposuction Enhance Your Post-Weight Loss Shape?

Following significant weight loss, sometimes people retain areas of stubborn fat that do not respond to diet or exercise. Liposuction helps address these pockets of fat to achieve a slimmer, sleeker appearance.

Liposuction strategically reduces fat cells in targeted areas to re-sculpt the contours. As a versatile procedure, liposuction can address many areas of the body to create a more proportioned overall figure. After liposuction, the skin shapes itself around the newly created curves.

Liposuction results are permanent by maintaining a stable weight. Remaining fat cells can continue to grow with weight fluctuations and weight gain over 30% can result in the production of new fat cells.

If your skin has been significantly stretched and lost elasticity, liposuction alone may not be the ideal solution for your body contouring needs.

What Are the Benefits of a Tummy Tuck After Major Weight Loss?

A tummy tuck surgery, or abdominoplasty, addresses loose skin, fat, and weakened or stretched abdominal muscles. Following pregnancy or weight loss, loose abdominal skin is a common complaint.

Tummy tucks help restore the contour, definition, and appearance of the abdomen to enhance the overall figure, boosting confidence and self-esteem. By tightening weakened abdominal muscles, other benefits of a tummy tuck may be improved back pain, posture, and urinary incontinence.

How Does Arm Lift Surgery Address Excess Skin After Weight Loss?

Brachioplasty, or an arm lift,is often performed after weight loss to improve the tone of the upper arms. The upper arms are a notoriously difficult area to address through diet and exercise alone, and weight loss can sometimes make the appearance of the upper arms worse.

An arm lift surgically removes extra skin and can use liposuction to address pockets of fat. By tightening the sagging skin, the upper arms are reshaped for a balanced, youthful look.

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What Should You Expect from Thigh Lift Surgery?

A thigh lift can help both men and women reduce loose or sagging skin after weight loss to reshape the thighs, achieving slimmer, sculpted upper legs.

For people who have experienced significant weight loss, a thigh lift focuses on the excess skin on the inner thigh and tightens the underlying muscle contour. While it can create a scar that stretches the full length of the thigh, it can improve the appearance of sagging thighs, leaving you with smoother, firmer, more youthful-looking legs.

How Can Breast Lifts Transform Your Post-Weight Loss Body?

The breasts are comprised of fibrous and glandular tissues, but they also contain fat. Losing weight can greatly affect the size and position of the breasts, increasing the chances of sagging and drooping after weight loss. Youthful firmness can be restored by a breast lift.

A breast lift can raise the breast and nipple to a more anatomical and youthful position by removing redundant skin and tissue to restore your overall figure and boost your confidence. A breast lift with implants or fat grafting can help restore lost volume and fullness.

What Non-Surgical Body Contouring Options Are Available?

There are no great non-surgical options for body contouring when we are dealing with excess skin. Filler is an option is young patients after weight loss with some deflation but without sagging of skin.  Hollowness can be addressed with volume-filler or fat grafting. Once the skin begins to sag – we are looking at a facelift plus or minus fat grafting to the face.

Losing fat can cause skin to sag, including facial skin. Popular options for facial sculpting after weight loss include non-surgical dermal filler treatments. Dermal fillers can help enhance facial contours by restoring lost volume and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It’s best to reach your target weight before getting dermal fillers to achieve the best results.

Rapid weight loss, like that experienced with weight loss drugs like Ozempic, can cause facial skin to sag or create a hollow appearance in areas like the temples. However, fillers provide a safe and effective solution to rejuvenating your facial appearance.

Are You a Candidate for Body Lift Procedures?

Aging and significant weight loss can impact the skin’s resiliency and elasticity, creating loose and sagging skin. Extra folds of skin tissue are not simply unsightly, they can cause discomfort, hygiene issues, skin ulcers, trouble walking, intimacy concerns, and poor self-esteem.

If you have loose or sagging skin after a significant weight loss, body contouring procedures may provide an optimal solution for you.

Dr. Daugherty recommends candidates for body contouring should be non-smokers who are living a healthy lifestyle. These candidates have finished childbearing and breastfeeding and have committed to maintaining a healthy weight.

How Do I Determine Which Procedure is Right for Me?

As each body contouring procedure aims to address a specific area and concern, it’s important to pinpoint those areas that bother you. Researching body contouring procedures can help you create a list of questions for your surgeon so that you can attain your ideal shape.

During your consultation, be honest with your surgeon about your concerns so that they can help you determine which body contouring procedures would help improve your unique concerns to not only enhance your figure but also boost your confidence.

Choosing Dr. Robyn Daugherty as Your Baton Rouge Body Contouring Expert

Choosing the right plastic surgeon is one of the most important decisions of your body contouring journey. Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Robyn Daugherty will help tailor a unique plan to restore the appearance of your body following your weight loss success, boosting your confidence and ensuring you achieve a rejuvenated appearance.

Schedule Your Body Contouring Consultation Today!

Body contouring procedures after weight loss can help you achieve your aesthetic and fitness goals. Schedule your consultation by contacting Daugherty Plastic Surgery at (225) 235-3884 or completing our online form today!

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