Body Lift Surgery London & UK

If you have areas of your body that are covered with loose drooping skin then you may be interested in body lift surgery. Body lift surgery is a cosmetic procedure that removes unsightly sagging skin from areas around the whole of the body. The removal of this skin will leave you with a smoother body line and will result in a more youthful appearance. However, body lift surgery is not a method to lose weight so if you are looking for a quick weight loss method, then there are other procedures that you should investigate. Body lift surgery is used to refine your body’s appearance once weight loss has occurred especially if you lost weight very quickly (e.g. due to a gastric bypass or other surgical method) and more specifically, to remove areas of excess skin.

This guide covers the entire body lift process from the moment you begin to consider body lift surgery (i.e. now!) to your final results after your surgery. It will take you through the preparation process, the procedure itself, the risks, costs and the recovery period. This guide is not meant as a substitute to medical advice but should be used to show your commitment to the procedure and to help you on your way to solving your excess skin problems. If you have excess/sagging skin that you find unsightly or is causing you problems and you are considering having body lift surgery, or you are preparing for your first surgical consult, then this guide will arm you with knowledge to assist in your decision making process.

Areas of sagging/drooping skin

Excess skin that sags and forms folds around your middle (abdomen and back) is often the results of sudden weight loss, ageing or certain skin conditions and this can be surgically removed by body lift surgery. Because of this, body lift surgery is often used as the second stage for patients who have a gastric bypass (or other weight loss operation) that causes them to have a period of accelerated weight loss.

It is common to find that skin drooping occurs in a number of areas around the body (such as around the stomach, buttocks, back, thighs, arms and breasts) and body lift surgery can target all of these areas. However, the most common areas to find this excess skin are around the stomach, back, thighs and buttocks. This is why many people simply have a “lower body lift” to target these main areas. However, your body lift can include any number of these areas and will depend on your areas of personal concern. Your surgeon will be able to discuss the different options with you to ensure that they remove all the excess skin that you are unhappy with. A body lift procedure will include skin removal around a number of different areas so that a single operation will result in a change to a large area of your body including the front, back and sides.

The procedure

The exact nature of the surgery will depend on the areas of skin that you want removed. The surgeon will have discussed this will you before you arrive for your procedure, but they may want to explain it to you again just before the surgery. The operation will be done under a general anaesthetic and will last different lengths of time depending on the area of skin you need removing and the surgical team involved (as some surgeons work quicker than others!). However, many body lift procedures will take up to 6 hours.

There are different types of body lifts which are defined by the area of the body that the excess skin is removed from. The most common type of body lift is know as belt lipectomy (or “lower body lift”) and involves the removal of sagging skin from the lower back, thighs and buttocks and includes a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty). You could also have a the same procedure but include special injections to minimise pain after using a lighter anaesthetic during the surgery and this is know as a tumescent body lift. If you have numerous areas of loose skin and you want to get them all removed in the same procedure, you may opt to have a total body lift which could include skin removal around the knees, arms, breasts, back, chest and any other area that you had discussed with your surgeon. Note that different surgeries may have slight variations on the names of the procedures and your body lift surgery will be personally tailored to ensure that the skin that you want removed (where ever it is on your body) is discussed and removed (if agreed by the surgical team).

The results

Obviously the surgeon will have cut off your excess skin which will mean that your folds of skin will no longer be there! Your skin will have been sutured back up in a way that allows it to be slightly stretched so this will leave you with tightened skin in your body lifted areas. This will also cause any wrinkles around your body lifted areas to be removed also as these skin areas will have been tightened as a results of the excess skin being removed around them.  

By removing drooping/excess skin from your body, a body lift will mean that you will probably fit a smaller dress size. It will give you a slimmer body shape and a more youthful appearance. This should give you greater body confidence and increase your ability to carry out any activities that your lose skin was preventing. By removing the lose skin, body lifting surgery will remove the soreness produced by the folds of skin rubbing against each other. This will increase your quality of life and remove the embarrassing requirement to lift or readjust flaps of skin during doctor’s examinations and other activities (such as washing).  

Your surgeon will do their best to ensure that any scarring is small and remains hidden under underwear/bathing suits. However, body lifting is a surgical procedure so you will be left with some scaring. It will be important for you to weight up the disadvantages of visible scaring with the areas of sagging skin that you want removed. You should also plan for a recovery period and you will have to take around 6 weeks off work after your procedure.

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Body Lift Surgery Clinics in London

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The Hurlingham Clinic
67 Studdridge Street
London
Greater London
SW6 3TD
Tel: 020 7348 6380

Transform
Nightingale House
1-7 Fulham High Street
London
SW6 3JH
Tel: 0800 655 6406