Why do people often need plastic surgery after gastric bypass surgery or significant weight loss?
The goal of bariatric surgery is to help morbidly obese patients lose the weight necessary to improve their overall health. By reducing the overall capacity of the stomach, the reduced food intake helps the patient lose weight. The success of bariatric surgery (over 80,000 procedures performed last year in the U.S.), with often up to 100 lbs of weight loss, results in a residual amount of loose skin throughout the body. Plastic surgery is often needed to address these unsightly skin pockets that remain. Commonly affected areas are the arms, breasts, abdomen, back, buttocks , and thighs, of which numerous plastic surgery procedures have been specifically developed just for these extreme problems.
