Post-Massive Weight Loss Surgery
Show Off the New You with Help from Chicago’s Lawrence Iteld, MD
If you stretch out a medium-size sweater with an extra-large body, it’s not going to fit right anymore—even if you drop a significant number of pounds and try it on again after the transformation. The material simply can’t un-stretch itself and looks baggy. For patients who find themselves lighter after massive weight loss, plastic surgeon Lawrence Iteld, MD, explains that—unfortunately—your skin can be just like a sweater. Even if your body is slimmer and sleeker after a successful fat-reduction surgery or lifestyle change, you can have pounds of flesh that literally sag from your arms, legs, belly, and elsewhere. Post-massive weight loss surgery from Chicago’s Iteld Plastic Surgery will allow patients to remove that unwanted, extra skin and achieve a body shape that is sleek and slim—not hidden under folds of loose tissue.
Contact Us Today
Want to learn more about post–massive weight loss surgery? Contact Chicago board-certified plastic surgeon Lawrence Iteld, MD to request a consultation. Send a message online or call 312.757.4505.
How Post-Massive Weight Loss Surgery Works
Post-massive weight loss surgery creates more aesthetically pleasing body proportions for patients who have shed such a large amount of weight that their skin can’t contract and sit firm on their newly slimmer frame. Cosmetic post-massive weight loss surgery may include a thigh lift, arm lift, Brazilian butt lift, tummy tuck, breast lift, or facelift. Any procedure that helps you to show off flatter, better-defined body contours instead of loose, flabby ones can be part of an overall body lift for post-massive weight loss surgery.
Dr. Iteld can also perform all these post-massive weight loss surgical procedures to give you freedom from a reliance on opioids during your recovery after.
MeetLawrence Iteld, MD
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon
RealSelf VERIFIED doctor
Lawrence Iteld, MD, is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and a highly regarded Chicago based plastic surgeon, receiving awards from Chicago Magazine’s Top Docs, and Castle Connolly Top Doctors®.
Meet Lawrence Iteld, MD
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon
RealSelf VERIFIED doctor
Lawrence Iteld, MD, is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and a highly regarded Chicago based plastic surgeon, receiving awards from Chicago Magazine’s Top Docs, and Castle Connolly Top Doctors®.
Post-Massive Weight Loss Surgery: FAQs
Excess body weight places a strain on your skin, and if you have been obese for many years, your skin may have become stretched past the point of no return. Stretching skin—especially rapidly—damages collagen and elastin fibers, meaning that it can’t return to its original shape. Chronological aging and sun damage also cause weakened skin, so skin laxity tends to be more of a problem the older you get.
Even though you can take steps to make skin look firmer—such as weight training to build muscle that fills out the “empty space”— correcting the problem with post-massive weight loss surgery is reliable, efficient, and can specifically target problem areas.
The goal when you lose a dramatic amount of weight is typically to improve health and reduce risk of obesity-related problems—and achieving a tighter, sculpted body can be part of that. Many successful weight-loss patients are frustrated by folds of extra, sagging skin. That’s why many people who have dropped a significant amount of weight still feel unsatisfied with their bodies and have post-massive weight loss surgery to feel more like their new selves.
The loose skin not only hides proportional contours but can also make it more difficult to fit into clothes and even cause health problems. Rashes, infections, and back pain are some of the symptoms associated with saggy skin. All that heavy tissue can also make it more difficult for you to continue working out, so you may need post-massive weight loss surgery to relieve the literal burden.
Post-massive weight loss surgery is ideal for women and men who achieved a much lower number on the scale via diet and exercise; gastric sleeve, lap band, or bypass surgery; or intragastric balloon.
Patients who have experienced extreme weight loss—whether through bariatric surgery or diet and exercise on their own—who have loose skin in multiple areas on the body, are healthy, don’t smoke, are committed to an overall healthy lifestyle, and who have maintained a stable weight for several months after their weight loss may be ideal candidates for post-massive weight loss surgery.