Most sufferers present process “tummy tuck” surgical procedure (abdominoplasty) to take away extra pores and skin and tissue after weight reduction proceed to shed extra pounds within the months and years after surgical procedure, suggests a follow-up examine within the July problem of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgical procedure®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is printed within the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
“We discovered that sufferers not solely maintained their weight reduction after abdominoplasty, but additionally continued to shed extra pounds over time – as much as ten kilos, on common,” feedback senior creator John Y.S. Kim of Northwestern College Feinberg Faculty of Medication, Chicago. “This postoperative weight reduction seems higher, and will increase at later follow-up instances, in sufferers with initially greater physique mass index [BMI].”
Continued weight reduction as much as 5 years after tummy tuck
Abdominoplasty is a beauty surgical process to enhance the looks of the stomach. In 2023, ASPS Member Surgeons carried out greater than 170,000 abdominoplasties, in keeping with ASPS statistics. Many of those procedures are carried out in sufferers with huge weight reduction that leaves them with extra, sagging pores and skin.
Plastic surgeons have noticed that sufferers could proceed to shed extra pounds after abdominoplasty. Nonetheless, there may be little analysis proof on this problem, together with whether or not the abdominoplasty process itself contributes to long-term weight reduction.
Dr. Kim and colleagues carried out a examine to evaluate modifications in physique weight in 188 sufferers who underwent abdominoplasty between 2018 and 2022. Ninety-seven % of sufferers have been girls. The common preoperative weight was about 168 kilos with a BMI of 27.7. Most sufferers underwent liposuction or an additional process to take away extra fats (lipectomy) concurrently abdominoplasty. Traits in physique weight have been assessed by way of as much as 5 years after surgical procedure.
The outcomes confirmed continued weight reduction after abdominoplasty. At three to 6 months, common weight reduction was between 5 and 6 kilos, with a couple of three % lower in BMI. From one to 4 years, weight reduction was about 5 kilos, for a BMI discount of about two %. By 5 years (in a restricted variety of sufferers), common weight reduction was practically ten kilos, with greater than a 5 % lower in BMI.
‘Close to-constant destructive change in physique weight’ after abdominoplasty
Total, about 60% of sufferers misplaced weight throughout follow-up. Additional evaluation confirmed a “close to fixed destructive change in physique weight that didn’t considerably change over time,” the researchers write.
After adjustment for different components, continued weight reduction was extra possible for older sufferers, for individuals who underwent liposuction/lipectomy, and those that had by no means smoked. Weight reduction was higher for sufferers who had greater physique weight and BMI earlier than surgical procedure, and for a small variety of sufferers who used the newer weight reduction medicine semaglutide.
The examine provides new proof that “post-abdominoplasty weight discount is a quantifiable phenomenon and that sufferers present process abdominoplasty proceed to lose a big quantity of weight for as much as 5 years after surgical procedure,” the researchers write. They be aware some key limitations of their examine, together with various follow-up instances and potential confounding components.
The examine can’t definitively clarify why sufferers proceed to shed extra pounds after surgical procedure. Nonetheless, Dr. Kim and coauthors write, “Now we have discovered that sufferers who have been in a position to obtain weight reduction after their abdominoplasty succeeded in growing wholesome habits that centered round vitamin and train.” They spotlight the necessity for an “evidence-based platform” to evaluate weight modifications after abdominoplasty and to determine components related to long-term weight reduction.
