6 Body Contouring Surgeries Complete a Surgical Makeover

By Charles Downey © 2008
PlasticSurgery.com Staff Writer.

S.K., a then 40-year-old woman in San Diego, California, had developed high blood pressure and borderline diabetes. Her enlarged liver continued to grow worse, which she was continuously reminded about from doctors.

According to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, a five-foot-three female should weight between 104 to 127 pounds for optimum health. S.K. was 310 pounds. So in 2003, S.K. (who asked for medical privacy) had a type of bariatric surgery that vastly reduced the size of her stomach so that she could only hold about a half a cup of food at any one meal. By 2004, S.K. had shed 160 pounds.

"My eating patterns changed completely," S.K. says. "I had to eat the protein on my plate first because I could hold so little food. Even now, five years later, I can hold no more than what a small child eats at any given meal."

While bariatric surgery drives away the many chronic health problems that massive overweight can bring, the procedure also has a very troubling side effect.

Sheets of Excess Skin After Post-Bariatric Surgery

Because the patient's skin has been stretched so tight for so long, it can no longer spring back to its normal position. So the vast majority of massive weight loss patients are left with layers of excess skin hanging from their arms, breasts, stomachs, and thighs.

The excess skin causes hygiene problems and creates sores because the sheets of skin rub together. Additionally, the extra skin looks terrible with or without clothes. Patients usually find the mere acting of sitting down is like sitting on two layers of something squishy and unstable.

Plus, it was hard for her to move around without a lot of flapping skin at her very active job in a University dining hall.

"I had already traveled a long, difficult road with a bariatric surgery procedure known as Roux en Y and figured I may as well finish my transformation and get rid of all the loose skin," says S.K. who is now 45, married, and lives in San Diego.

Searching the Internet, she found La Jolla plastic surgeon Thomas Pousti, M.D. just north of San Diego, California. She liked the many before and after pictures on the doctor's Web site and chose to go see him for an initial consultation because he had a lot of experience with former bariatric patients who had undergone body contouring, or "body shaping". The results of Dr. Pousti's surgeries looked wonderful to her.

Tummy Tuck, Liposuction & More

But she did not think it would require six surgeries over three years to remove all the excess, hanging skin.

The first procedures were a tummy tuck and a belt lipectomy followed by a thigh lift. After that, she underwent an upper arm lift with breast augmentation and lift.

"That last procedure was a lot of surgery which kept me down for several months," S.K. says.

"But after two months of 'down time,' I started feeling like a new person," S.K. says. "My daughter and my husband -- whom I met while still losing weight -- helped me recover.

"At first it was a little intimidating. The scars from just the upper arm lift ran from my armpits down to my elbows. And the incisions for the breast lift were long, too. But the scars are placed where they are not easily seen and fade relatively fast."

Her final procedure was tattoo removal.

Body Contouring Before and After Photos

S.K. now carries a small photo album because people tend not to believe her story of weight loss, as well as skin loss, so she must show them. Some then even question the veracity of the pictures.

"I have the same job now and it is much easier for me to move around, plus I have a lot more energy," she says.

"The cost of Dr. Prousti's six surgeries was about equal to the cost a new luxury automobile," she says. "But it was worth it because I feel and look beautiful!"