Lift Surgery on the Rise in 2014, According to ASPS
In June, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons released its annual report on the numerous surgical and nonsurgical procedures available across the country. This report allows surgeons to analyze and crunch the numbers to find noticeable patterns and trends over the past year compared to other years. One such trend from 2014 was a noticeable rise in the number of body lift and contouring surgeries. Arm lifts increased by about 9%, tummy tucks rose about 4%, and breast lifts increased by a whopping 10%, their biggest one-year increase since 2009. Coincidentally, weight loss surgery procedures are also experiencing a rise in popularity, and it’s believed that these two trends are linked together.
This is hardly surprising given that at least one in four patients who have body lift surgery have also had weight loss surgery. Weight loss surgery helps people lose a significant amount of weight limiting the amount of sustenance the digestive system can handle, usually by removing or constricting an area of the stomach or small intestine. Once the patient has the surgery, they can lose up to 70% of their body weight over a period of one to two years.
Losing such a significant amount of weight is a tremendous accomplishment and will have a lot of health benefits for you. However, it can also leave you with large quantities of excess skin. When you take in more energy than you burn during your day, the extra energy is converted into fat cells which build up under your skin, causing it to expand and stretch. As you start to burn through the excess fat cells during your weight loss, the skin starts to shrink again, but it may not be able to completely shrink back to its former state. The stretched skin begins to hang loosely off your body’s frame and becomes a source of discomfort and embarrassment.
Feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed about your body are two things you definitely shouldn’t be feeling after achieving your weight loss goals! Body lift surgery can help with this. It is specifically designed to trim and tighten the skin so that your body looks fit and toned. Lifts can be performed on the neck, upper arms, breasts, and tummy. Some patients only need to have a lift done on one or two areas while others may require more than that.
Lift surgeries all have the same basic method. The surgeon makes incisions in areas where they will not be conspicuous, then uses those incisions to access the layer of fat under the skin. Any excess fat deposits are removed and muscles can be repaired if necessary. Once all the work under the skin has been completed, the surgeon lifts the remaining skin tissue to the incision site and trims away any extra. The procedure gives you a smooth, contoured appearance to your body, one that you’ll be proud to show off.
If you have had or are considering weight loss surgery and you are interested in learning more about body lifts, you should schedule a consultation with a plastic surgeon. Dr. Daniel Shapiro offers several different body lift and contouring procedures at his practice in Scottsdale, AZ and has been performing plastic surgery for almost twenty years. During your consultation, Dr. Shapiro will get your medical history, perform an assessment of your body and the areas where you are interested in getting a body lift, and spend some time with you discussing your goals for surgery. He’ll also be able to answer questions and address any concerns you may have.
To schedule a patient consultation with Dr. Shapiro, you can send him an email through his Contact page here on his site. You can also call (480) 451-1700 during office hours, which are Monday- Friday, from 8:30am – 5:00pm. Contact us for an appointment today!
