Anyone who loses a significant amount of weight can have excess skin and stubborn fat pockets around their mid-section and on their hips and thighs. Both men and women can struggle to reach their desired body shape after working hard to lose weight. When you look into the mirror, you may still not feel like you have succeeded because of the sagging excess tissue you see that you cannot get rid of on your own. All of the best eating habits and hardest exercise routines will not be able to make the final difference. This is where a board-certified plastic surgeon such as Dr. Jeffrey Ditesheim can help.
A lower body lift in Charlotte is a surgical body sculpting procedure that will remove excess skin and stubborn pockets of fat that remain while tightening up tissue and muscles from your waist to your knees. It will give the finishing touches to all of your hard work.
Each person’s body is different—from its skeletal structure to how it loses weight— and each person will have different goals for what they think their body contour should be. Every patient presents a different set of issues so every lower body lift surgery performed at our Charlotte clinic is customized to the person.
During your first visit, Dr. Ditesheim will discuss your aesthetic concerns and wishes, and then evaluate your body. He will look at your skeletal frame and muscle structure, and using his expertise and experience, he will then offer the best options to improve your body’s shape. A lower body lift can address multiple areas, including:
You will consult with Dr. Ditesheim to decide what areas of your body need to be worked on. You may not realize that the problem in one area is significantly influenced by a change in a different area, but Dr. Ditesheim will know these unique features and guide you.
Compared to some other types of body lift surgery, a lower body lift can involve a fairly long incision that extends around from front to back over each hip bone. Still, it is usually in an area that is easily hidden by clothing. You will also be informed of the best way to care for your incision so that it will, over time, become a thin line.
General anesthesia is the preferred form of anesthesia so that you can remain comfortable throughout the entire procedure. You may be able to return home on the same day of your lower body lift surgery, and if any small drains are in place, you will be seen the next day in our Charlotte clinic.
Because of the general anesthesia and the fragility of your fresh surgical scar, you will want help from friends or family to drive you on the day of your surgery, and then for a few days after you get home. You will not want to move excessively or put undue pressure on the healing tissues, so you will need someone to take care of children and pets. Be sure that you have meals lined up, whether someone cooks for you or you have prepped meals in advance.
Recovery from a Charlotte lower body lift surgery lasts about three to four weeks. During that time, you will slowly resume normal activities, though strenuous activity will need to wait even longer. Be sure to ask about activity limits, especially if there are specific things you are unsure about doing. Your return to work may depend on what your job entails, as a more physically demanding job may require more time away from work or slightly different duties for a few weeks. If you have a desk job, you may be ready to return to work in two weeks.
You will wear a compression garment to help your body get used to its new shape, keep swelling down, and minimize bruising. We give you a second compression garment so you have a clean one to wear while the other one is washed.
Results from your lower body lift surgery in Charlotte start to appear immediately. Over a week or two, you will notice even more improvement as swelling and bruising disappear. The results of your surgery are permanent, and if fat is removed, it cannot grow back. If you maintain a healthy lifestyle, you should be able to make the results last the rest of your life.
When you reach the point where diet and exercise are no longer able to make improvements to your body contour, you may wish to explore what can be done through the use of plastic surgery. A lower body lift may be all that you need to complete your physical transformation. Set up an appointment soon to discuss your options for a lower body lift in Charlotte.