title: Body contouring after bariatric surgery: how much is really being done?
abstract: The proportion of postbariatric surgery patients who undergo body contouring (BC) procedures is unknown. We designed a study to explore demographic features and patient education regarding BC in the bariatric surgery (BS) population. A survey was mailed to 1158 patients who underwent BS by 2 surgeons between 2003 and 2011. A total of 284 (24.5%) patients responded. Seventy-two patients (25.4%) reported discussing BC surgery with their bariatric surgeon perioperatively. Forty patients (14.1%) were referred for plastic surgery consultation. Thirty-three patients (11.6%) underwent BC procedures. The most frequent reasons cited for not undergoing BC were expense (29.2%) and lack of awareness regarding options (23.6%). Thirty-nine percent of respondents reported that they might have chosen differently, had they received more information. As a result of insufficient perioperative counseling, the majority of BS patients are unaware of the multitude of BC procedures available. Additional efforts toward improving patient (and surgeon) education regarding postbariatric BC options are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Alyssa J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Reiffel
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.forename: Whitney A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Burrell
authors.forename: Yoann H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Millet
authors.forename: Briar L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Dent
authors.forename: Alfons
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pomp
authors.forename: Gregory F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Dakin
authors.forename: Jason A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Spector
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003376:Counseling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004954:Esthetics; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000601:surgery*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011159:Population Surveillance; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult