Body Contouring

For many patients who have lost significant weight, they are troubled by several different areas of the body and want several different surgeries to improve these areas. It is extremely common for patients to want to get all their surgeries done at the same time so that they can minimize time off work, have “one recovery,” and be “one and done.”

Some patients may be able to combine all their surgeries at once. Dr. Rodriguez will recommend this when it is safe to do so.

However, it is not uncommon for patients to have surgeries staged. Staging surgeries means that some of the procedures are done during a first surgery while others are done at a second or even third surgery. Dr. Rodriguez will advise which is safest and most practical depending on the surgeries you are having, your situation, and your desires.

With body contouring surgeries, some scars are inevitable. The scars, however, are oftentimes much less bothersome than all the loose skin that can be left behind after weight loss. Patients of Dr. Rodriguez often say that they were happy to trade the loose skin for a scar.

These scars are placed in areas that are as hidden as possible such as along the bra line, below the underwear line, etc.

If the incision is too tight when it is closed, it can contribute to poor scarring. To try and avoid the incision being too tight, Dr. Rodriguez uses progressive tension sutures and always closes the skin in several layers.

Scar therapy after the incisions have healed also helps to optimize the appearance and feel of the scar.

Technologies like BodyTite™ are fantastic tools for skin tightening in some patients but are unlikely to help patients who have lost a lot of weight. If you have lost a significant amount of weight, the loose deflated skin that is left behind is left behind because it has lost its ability to “spring back” and tighten up again. The skin has lost some of its elasticity. Because of this, we cannot rely on the skin itself to tighten up even with skin tightening technologies like BodyTite™. Typically, the only reliable way to tighten this skin adequately is to remove the extra skin.

Some types of bariatric surgery are more likely than others to make you more susceptible to vitamin deficiencies.

Surgeries like Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and biliopancreatic bypass are likely to cause protein malnutrition and deficiencies of vitamin B12, folate, thiamine, and iron.

Surgeries like sleeve gastrectomy or gastric banding are less likely to cause these types of nutritional deficiencies.

So, depending on the type of bariatric surgery you have had done, Dr. Rodriguez may recommend that you have some labs checked before surgery. This is important to do ahead of surgery so that your body is well equipped with the tools it needs to get you through the healing process as safely as possible.