Lower Body and Buttock Lift

Aging, heredity, and weight loss can cause the skin on the abdomen, flanks, back, buttocks, and thighs to sag. Patients who lose large amounts of weight often find they are left with folds of skin that chafe and are uncomfortable and unattractive. Especially as they age, some people who lose even a modest amount of weight experience sagging skin in the buttocks, hips, and thighs.

Among the most dramatic and fastest-growing aesthetic surgery procedures, lower body lift can reshape specific or entire areas from the waist through the hips and sculpt the stomach, remove love handles, and contour the hips, thighs, and buttocks. To create polished, balanced results, lower body and buttock lift often is performed with other procedures such as a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty).

Consultation
Consultation for lower body and buttock lift includes a thorough discussion of your desires, expectations, and concerns as well as limits and risks of the surgery. Your surgeon also will take pictures of and carefully examine your abdomen, thighs, hips, and buttocks. He or she will review your medical history and recommend options that will yield the best results for you.

During the consultation, you should provide complete information about:

• Medications, including all nutritional and herbal supplements
• Previous surgeries
• Previous and current medical conditions
• Treatments and therapies you have received or are receiving

Candidates
The best candidates for lower body and buttock lift have realistic expectations for their results, are in good health, and in relatively good shape but have loose skin or excess fat on the lower body that cannot be corrected with exercise and dieting.

The Procedure
During lower body lift, the surgeon makes an incision around the belt line of the waist, across the lower abdomen, and down the inner thighs. Excess fat and skin are removed and the body is sculpted through lifting, tightening, and shaping the skin, reducing fat, and smoothing and reducing overlying skin. the procedure generally lasts 4 to 5 hours.

Several drains are typically used to prevent fluid from collecting. Dressings may be light or compression garments that apply pressure to the incision and prevent excessive swelling and help the skin adjust to its new contours.

Recovery and Results
Most lower body lift patients spend at least 1 night in the hospital. Within a week, however, the majority of patients return to a modified routine. Within 2 weeks, patients usually have resumed most of their previous activities.

Most patient are extremely pleased with the results of lower body lift. Although scars from the procedure are typically long, they can fade somewhat over time. In some cases, scar revisions can help patients obtain an even better result.