Vita Clinics in Birmingham have added a new service to their portfolio of procedures and services, Skin Reduction Surgery.

People often talk about the benefits of weight loss surgery in terms of feeling healthier and fitter, and of course losing weight, but they rarely discuss the problem of excess, sagging of skin once the ideal weight has been reached.

When you’re embarking on your journey of weight loss following obesity surgery it is difficult to focus on negatives rather than positives, but it is important to recognise that for some people, they may need to go on to require further surgery to remove this excess skin – sometimes called body contouring (a form of cosmetic surgery). We can offer help in this way irrespective of where you had your weight loss surgery.

Why does this happen?
The exact mechanisms are not clearly understood but it is accepted that whilst you can build muscle tone through exercise, this will not change skin tone. Skin elasticity is something that is not influenced by activity or exercise. Losing weight results in fat loss (beneath the skin) but not the skin loss itself.

Why is this worse in some and not others?
Again this is unclear. There may be several factors such as diet, genetic factors, race, age, gender and lifestyle (eg: alcohol, smoking and drugs are known to affect skin tone). We do know that speed of weight loss appears to be a factor. Plastic surgeons report that skin can become very loose and has little tone after losing 50 pounds or more in a very short time. After bariatric surgery such as gastric band or gastric bypass, some people can be left with large amounts of loose skin on their abdomen, arms, waist, thighs and breasts if they have lost a lot of weight quickly.

Vita Clinics recognises the distress that some our patients can feel when they achieve their ideal weight maybe for the first time in many years and yet this is bittersweet. The mirror once again proves an enemy. They to emotionally complete the process of becoming thin and this excess skin is a huge barrier. This is when people may choose to have body contouring or skin reduction surgery to rid themselves of excess skin.

Who should have this done?
Timing the surgery right is essential to both reduce the risk of complications and ensure the best long term results. We would consider people for this type of plastic surgery based on the following criteria (this list is not exhaustive):

• You have both achieved and maintained your target weight for a minimum of one year
• Your BMI at the point of referral for skin reduction surgery is less then 30
• You have had no previous history of poor skin healing and are not on long term steroid therapy
• You have no active psychiatric illness/disorder for which cosmetic surgery (plastic surgery) might be contra-indicated
• You have no known allergy or hypersensitivity to Arnica or Vitamin E (not an absolute contra-indication). Where this is not the case advice should be sought from a plastic surgeon prior to referral.
• For breast surgery, you have no future intention of breast feeding.

Patients should have a realistic expectation of what can and cannot be achieved with a full understanding of potential complications before they agree to skin reduction surgery. The importance of a support group in the medium and longer term is paramount.

We work with some of the UK’s leading Cosmetic Surgeons to offer the full range of cosmetic operations required to enable you to complete your journey of transformation, with the surgery carried out in many of our partner hospitals. The procedures involved are safe, without serious complication and with good aesthetic results when undertaken by expert surgeons in appropriate hospital facilities.

We offer the following procedures:

• Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)
• Mastopexy (breast uplift) with breast implants (breast augmentation)
• Thigh Lift
• Brachioplasty (arm lift)
• Upper body lift
• Lower body lift
• Facelift

Call Vita Clinics on 0800 849 4050 for a discussion with a nurse or to book a consultation with an expert surgeon. We do not employ sales staff, just clinically qualified professionals.