Plastic surgery
Procedures
The different plastic surgery procedures after major weight loss.
Abdominoplasty
This procedure must be very controlled, and a strict prevention of the phlebitis and pulmonary embolisms must be carried out.
The operational time is approximately 2 hours, 3 days of hospitalization, 15 days of stop working, according to the painfulness of the job.
The port of a sheath is advised during 1 to 2 months.
The result is visible at the end of the first month and the scars are blurred at the end of 2 years.
Breast surgery
The scars are “T reversed”. They are hidden in the furrow, around the areola and go down vertically under the areola.
The patients thus find their femininity and are sometimes able to occur from bra.
Arms and legs surgery
The face lifts give again a contour with the members while placing the scars in the hollow of the armpits or the groin.
If there is too much skin, it is possible to reduce the scar vertically along the members.
These procedures can in certain cases be gathered by two
Abdomen + centres, arm + thighs, or centres + thighs etc… in order to rebuild the body more quickly.
The operational risks of all these interventions
- Risks of general anaesthesia, to evaluate by the surgeon and the anaesthesiologist.
- Risk of bleeding and infection, commun runs to all the surgical procedures.
- Risk of phlebitis and pulmonary embolism.
- Cicatricial risk (the patients smokers, diabetics, taking cortisone, or having already had disgracious scars have more risk).
General principles
Plastic and reconstructive surgery
After a gastroplasty or a gastric bypass, it is advised at the time of weight loss, to practise a moderate sports activity at the beginning, then increasing, in order to develop the muscular mass gradually to prevent a important cutaneous relaxation.
Moreover, good hydration of the skin (not scented pharmacological hydrating creams) increases the tonicity of the skin, and limit its flaccidity.
Despite these precautions, it frequently happens that weight loss causes a satisfaction for the patient in his everyday life, but the image of himself in nudity brings a disappointment, because the patient does not recognize himself in a flask body.
This can have heavy consequences on the private life of the patients who are sometimes discouraged and who have ”shame” of their body.
The plastic and reconstructive surgery can be useful in these cases to withdraw the cutaneous folds, to lipo aspirate the greasy residues, and to reorganize the body.
Two conditions are necessary before any intervention : the relative ponderal stability and the total stop smoking, in order to reduce the risks of cutaneous necrosis.
A psychological preparation by discussion surgeon-patient, or psychologist-patient is essential to prepare the patient for the post surgical time, with a respect of his body in order to help to obtain the optimum result.
It is by working the scars, by using a good alimentation, by maintaining a physical activity and especially by controlling its weight, that the patient will be able to hope for a good long-term result.