Body Contouring After Significant Weight Loss

If you have lost a significant amount of weight either through diet and exercise or bariatric surgery, congratulations! You are on the road to a transformation inside and out. By now you most likely feel better, look better, and are doing things you may never have thought possible. You worked hard to get to this stage and should be very proud of your accomplishments.

At this point, you may want to make additional changes in your body that cannot be accomplished through diet and exercise alone. This is where the right plastic surgeon can help you achieve your goals. You may be saying, “my clothes are looser, I am working hard to exercise and be healthy, but my body doesn’t look that way.” Body contouring can help you gain more confidence inside and out.

Joshua Kreithen, MD, is a board certified plastic surgeon specializing in body contouring procedures which involve sculpting of arms, chest and breasts, buttocks, thighs and abdomen to create smooth curves and a dramatic improvement to the body’s contour as a whole. Trained at the University of Florida, Dr. Kreithen is on the Obesity Help Advisory Panel and has authored several publications on the subject of body contouring after significant weight loss. He is also an accomplished artist who combines his aesthetic insight with over 10 years of surgical experience to provide rejuvenation and body contouring treatments that can help reshape the body.

	Brachioplasty (arm lift)	Reduces sagging skin and fat from under the arms.
	Breast Surgery Breast reductions Implants and Mastopexy (breast lift)	Help to correct breast drooping (called ptosis) and loss of volume by adding fullness and lift.
	Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)	Eliminates excess skin and tightens muscles in the abdominal wall. The skin is pulled down, to achieve a flatter appearance, and the excess is cut away. If a hernia is present, it may be repaired at the same time. This procedure can also benefit a patient after pregnancy to remove unwanted skin.
	Lower Body Lift	Flattens the abdomen and flanks by removing excess fat and skin and tightening muscles of abdominal wall. It also lifts the thighs and buttocks.
	Medial Thigh Lift	Can lift the inner thighs and remove wrinkling and excess bagginess of the thighs.
	Liposuction	Is the surgical "vacuuming" of fat from beneath the surface of the skin. It is a good method to correct body contour problems and irregularities, targeting pockets of fat that remained unaffected by weight loss.

Sometimes procedures can be combined in one operation which reduces total recovery time and cost. For example, a tummy tuck is often combined with liposuction and/or a breast lift (with or without implants). However, safety is of utmost importance and total duration under anesthesia is a key factor in making any decision about combining procedures. During a consultation with Dr. Kreithen, your own anatomy is assessed, as well as your priorities, and then a complete plan is created for total body contouring. Some procedures may be covered by medical insurance.

If you are interested in having body contouring the operations should be scheduled when the weight has stabilized and remained so for several months. As a rule, usually that is at least a year at a maintained stable weight. Some patients do have surgery when there are a few more pounds to lose as this may reinforce the motivation to maintain healthy habits, or remove stubborn areas that will most likely not be reduced with even the best diet and exercise program.

Every patient’s experience is a little different. How will your life change? After healing, most people are far happier about the way they look and feel about themselves. Circulation is improved, irritations subside, clothes fit better and people feel healthier and more confident.

Lower Body Lift & Thigh Lift

Breast Lift (No Vertical Scar)