Strategic principles of plastic surgery in obese patients having lost weight
Most people having gained a lot of weight are forced to make two types of observations:
Skin is no longer taut:
This is the main problem. In addition, the skin conforms to the body’s shape with variable results.
Depending on the individual, a 25 kg weight loss can result in the same amount of excess skin as an 80 kg weight loss.
Skin quality is also variable depending on the sites.
While for a majority of individuals the abdomen poses the most problems, for others most excess skin will be situated in other areas: on the arms, inner thighs or breasts… For some, the entire body is the problem.
Patients consult specialists because they refuse to put up with the excess slackening skin they are forced to conceal with clothing.
There are some remaining fat residues:
We should remember that there are two body shapes:
- The android body shape (more common among men but also found among some women): excess fat is concentrated in the upper body and the abdomen is the most apparent problem area.
- The gynoid body shape in women: excess fat is located in the lower body, i.e. at the hips and below. The upper body is slimmer than the lower. The therapeutic goal is therefore to rebalance both parts of the body through fat and skin removal.