title: Long-term quality-of-life improvement in gastric banding patients from body-contouring surgery.
abstract: Following my prior study of long-term results after laparoscopic gastric banding concerning operative outcome and complications involving the gastric band itself, I now focus on long-term quality-of-life improvement in the same study group after body-contouring surgery. As determined from our electronic patient data system, 72 patients from the former study group subsequently sought body-contouring surgery at our hospital after successful weight loss. Patients were enrolled in a telephone interview and asked about their expectations and body image before and after postbariatric aesthetic surgery and how it altered their well-being in addition to the weight loss achieved with the gastric band. All patients undergoing postbariatric aesthetic surgery felt extremely uneasy with the hanging skin resulting from weight reduction. Patients cannot imagine the degree of dissatisfaction they will experience from the sagging skin that comes with weight loss. Hardly any patient expected fewer scars than he ultimately had after body-contouring surgery and reported an extreme improvement in body image. Gastric banding should not be performed without informing patients about the need for postbariatric body-contouring surgery, because most patients not forewarned suffer greatly from their body image after weight loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lanthaler
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mattesich
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nehoda
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Puelzl
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matiasek
authors.forename: Agnese
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nitto
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pierer
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kinzl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001828:Body Image; D062109:Dermatologic Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D015391:Gastroplasty; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000601:surgery*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss