The desire for body contouring surgery after bariatric surgery.
BACKGROUND
Obesity has become far more prevalent over the last few decades. In parallel, bariatric surgery has been increasingly utilized as a method of treatment. This appears to be having an impact on the rate of body contouring surgery for hanging redundant skin after the massive weight loss that usually results from bariatric surgery. Little literature is available addressing how frequently patients who have undergone bariatric surgery receive or desire body contouring surgery or regarding how satisfied these patients are with the hanging skin in certain body areas.


METHODS
Seventy individuals (out of 250 who were mailed the questionnaire) who had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery 6-10 years previously completed a questionnaire, which obtained information regarding their experiences with as well as their desire for body contouring surgery and more general body area satisfaction.


RESULTS
Thirty three of the seventy patients reported having undergone a total of 38 body contouring procedures. The most common were abdominoplasties (24.3%), breast lifts (8.6%), and thigh lifts (7.1%). However, subjects were not uniformly satisfied with body areas that had undergone body contouring surgery; some found the areas unattractive. The majority of patients, at least to some extent, desired body contouring surgery, often in several areas, most notably the waist/abdomen, rear/buttock, upper arms, and chest/breast.


CONCLUSIONS
Paralleling the increasing use of bariatric surgery is an increasing desire for body contouring surgery. Most patients desire body contouring surgery after bariatric surgery. However, third party payors usually do not reimburse for such procedures.
The Neuropsychiatric Research Institute and the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Fargo, ND, USA. mitchell@medicine.nodak.edu
James E
JE
Mitchell
Ross D
RD
Crosby
Troy W
TW
Ertelt
Joanna M
JM
Marino
David B
DB
Sarwer
J Kevin
JK
Thompson
Kathryn L
KL
Lancaster
Heather
H
Simonich
L Michael
LM
Howell
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015390:Gastric Bypass; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D012649:Self Concept; D013997:Time Factors