A strong weight loss leads to having a lot of excess skin. Losing weight is essential to improve the quality of life of severely overweight people. Obesity sufferers need to shed many kilos. Often the only solution in these cases is the bariatric surgery. One of the important consequences of a strong weight loss lies in the fact that you find yourself having a quantity of skin that makes normal daily life difficult. “It is a real paradox. On the one hand, with weight loss, cardiovascular conditions and respiratory function improve, and the patient can move again. On the other hand, due to the emptying everything is complicated”. The Professor Peter Lorenzetti he specializes in post-slimming plastic surgery and intervenes in cases of significant weight loss also following bariatric surgery.
Excess skin: eliminating it is the only way to return to a normal life
“Hence the need for surgery to remove this skin and change life definitively. With the body restructuring operation by the cosmetic surgeon you can really enjoy the progress achieved with slimming”, explains the expert.
How long should I wait before being able to undergo surgery?
“You have to wait six months from reaching the desired weight. The result is stable unless there are significant changes in weight.”
What interventions are the most practiced after a strong weight loss?
“Until you lose 10-15 kilos you can have localized problems. When you lose more than 30, you have problems all over your body. The interventions that all patients generally require are the same:
- abdominoplasty or circumferential facelift, which treats the abdomen, back and sides,
- inner thigh lift,
- arm lift,
- thick breasts for women, gynecomastia for men.
- Sometimes face lift.
Is it one intervention or several interventions?
“It depends on the general health conditions of the patient. It can also be done with a single intervention. When the body permits it, several operations are performed together. Sometimes one, sometimes two, three, four, five operations at the same time. It is an avant-garde approach which proves to be particularly important and of support also from a psychological point of view for patients in their path of ‘life change’. The problems we need to watch out for are those related to heart failure, respiratory disorders, or decompensated diabetes. In practice, the same conditions that prevent elective operations and do not save lives”.
Is the intervention recognized by the National Health Service? How soon can you return to normal life?
“For the very obese, in some structures there is the possibility of having this intervention with the NHS, but in most cases the operation must be paid for. The advice is to abstain from work for twenty days and from physical activity for forty days. Of course, even in this case, each patient has different reactions and needs”.