Body Lift

Good candidates for a body lift are women who are finished with child-bearing or are men or women at a stable, preferably ideal, body weight. For the best cosmetic results, patients should have a body mass index (BMI) less than 30, and have most of their fat located under the skin instead of inside the abdomen. Dr. Albright will assess for this during the physical exam.  As safety is of utmost importance to Dr. Albright, patients should be medically healthy enough for general anesthesia, and should not have had major abdominal surgeries or mesh-based large hernia repairs. Patients who have had bariatric surgery, should be at least 1 year after their procedure, and have stable weight with adequate follow up and laboratory studies by their bariatric surgeon prior to considering body contouring procedures

The common scar pattern is a horizontal (side-to-side) scar located above the pubic mound near where a C-section scar would be placed. The scar is contoured and positioned so that it should be fairly easy to hide with most types of underwear and bikini bottoms.  However, the scar is longer than a C section scar, and will reach around to the back to be nearly circumferential.

For patients  who have had dramatic weight-loss success including after bariatric surgery, it may be necessary to perform a staged surgeries, whereby a “fleur-de-lis” abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) is performed first, followed about 6 months later with a lower back lift. The fleur de lis abdominopalsty combines a traditional lower side-to-side incision with a long vertical incision creating an upside down ‘T’ pattern on the front of the abdomen.  This is sometimes needed to address not only top-down skin excess but also side-to-side skin excess. Although the scar pattern is more visible and difficult to hide out-of-clothing, the resulting improvement in shape and waist definition is usually considered a fair trade by these patients.  Still unsure?  Come in today to see what these results can look like.

Yes, Dr. Albright uses drains after this procedure. Your body has a natural tendency to release clear fluid from your circulation (serous fluid) into areas of inflammation and surgically-created space. If this fluid is not reabsorbed in a timely manner, it can collect and form a seroma, which may need to be drained with a needle or even (rarely) require more surgery to fix. Dr. Albright tries to minimize this risk with surgical drains. He and his staff will help educate you and your caregivers in the proper maintenance of your temporary drains.