How Your Skin Changes after Significant Weight Loss

Losing weight isn’t easy, and losing a lot of weight — well, that’s a really difficult accomplishment, and one you should be proud of. Not only can shedding weight help you feel more comfortable and more confident, but it can also dramatically improve your health. 

However, despite the significant benefits of losing weight, there is one consequence you might not be prepared for. Once the pounds drop away, many people are left with loose, sagging skin. Not surprisingly, droopy skin can really take away from the confidence you were hoping to feel after losing weight. Worse, a lot of excess skin can cause painful chafing and increase the risk of some types of skin infections — and it can even make it more difficult to enjoy your new, active lifestyle.

If you’re dealing with a lot of excess skin after weight loss, Chelsea Snider, MD, can help. At Vida Bela Plastic Surgery, Dr. Snider offers state-of-the-art body contouring procedures tailored to the unique goals of every patient. Here’s how body contouring could help you get the slim, toned body you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

How major weight loss affects your skin

Your skin has the amazing ability to expand as you grow, from childhood all the way through adulthood. That expansion is mainly due to two components of skin — collagen and elastin. Collagen makes up about 80% of your skin’s structure, giving skin its firmness, strength, and resilience. Elastin is what helps your skin stretch and shrink to conform to the contours of your body.

Both collagen and elastin are designed to help your skin adapt to changes from weight gain and weight loss. But when we lose a lot of excess weight, these special fibers may not be able to respond as well as we’d like them to. The result: loose, sagging folds of skin that can be uncomfortable and unattractive, preventing you from enjoying the benefits of major weight loss.

Why can’t our skin bounce back? As strong as collagen and elastic fibers may be, their capacity to “shrink down” after massive weight loss is limited. That’s partly because research shows major weight gain actually damages the collagen and elastic fibers, possibly by making them stretch beyond their normal limits. Once damaged, these fibers no longer work the way they usually do, which means our skin isn’t able to shrink back down once all that weight is finally lost.

How body contouring can help

Body contouring after weight loss uses surgical techniques to remove excess skin and help restore tighter, slimmer contours — the contours you were hoping to see right after weight loss. Dr. Snider offers contouring for many areas of the body, including:

• Upper arms
• Breasts
• Tummy
• Thighs
• Buttocks
• Back
• Face/Neck

Many patients who’ve lost a considerable amount of weight have more than one type of procedure (or “lift”) to achieve the results they want and improve the appearance and proportions of their post-weight-loss body.

Body contouring surgery is something you should consider only once you’ve reached your goal weight and your weight is stabilized. It’s also important to be committed to a healthy lifestyle before and after your surgery to ensure you can continue to enjoy your results indefinitely. 

Let us help you achieve your goals

Losing weight is a cause for celebration. Don’t let excess, sagging skin take away from your success. Body contouring could be just what you’re looking for to get rid of that extra skin and finally enjoy a sleeker, firmer, sexier body. To learn more about body contouring after weight loss, call the office in Plano or Frisco, Texas, or book an appointment online.