Gastric bypass surgeries have become increasingly common in cases of morbid obesity — I recently had a conversation with a hospital resident who said that he thought morbid obesity would disappear from the US within a few years because of the surgery. But when you go from 500 to 150 lbs, you end up with a lot of extra skin hanging around. The present-day solution is a further surgery called "body contouring" — lifting the skin of your lower body "like a giant pair of pants, reattaching it in a higher, tighter position."
"The skin doesn't have the same elasticity and properties it had before, so it's much more difficult to try to reconstruct those patients and get the skin looking tight again," said Dr. Roxanne Guy, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. "Sometimes more than one operation is needed to get the desirable contour."
Body contouring can involve any combination of surgeries including a tummy tuck, upper arm lift, thigh lift and lower body lift.
Because the frequency of these once-rare surgeries is increasing dramatically, Ethicon, a medical supply company owned by Johnson & Johnson, launched Shaping Futures, an organization that runs classes for plastic surgeons who want to master body contouring. In 2005 the group held four classes, and in 2006 the number increased to six. Shaping Futures also delivers an online newsletter and hosts speaker events as well as a website where plastic surgeons can share tips.
