My Chest, Will I have issues after surgery?

[rpn515]

I'm considering surgery, Will I have skin issues after surgery? I am not overweight, and I am working out to get slimmer. I am 6'4" 195lbs.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

You certainly have some legitimate concerns about lax skin after minimal incision surgery.  Were you once significantly heavier??

Suggest you speak to your gyne surgeon about possible surgical scenarios.

Dr Jacobs

[rpn515]

Dr. Jacobs,

I have maintained this weight for about 5 years now. I played football in high school and weighed around 240 then considering muscle mass and such, but i lost the weight, both muscle and fat after high school. I'm 23 now and have maintained this build for around 5 years. Considering my situation, what kinds of surgery options would be necessary for a good look post-op?

[scrabble]

I think you'd need the 3 associated surgeries [lipo, gland excision, nipple reduction], but the issue of most concern would be a largish scar line resulting from any attempt to remove/taughten skin in the area, rather than the 4 keyhole incisions from the lipo. Good post-care treatment is key in minimising scar tissue, namely not smoking and avoiding sun-exposure.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

You have lost approx 45 lbs from your max weight --  quite an accomplishment, congratulations!

Unfortunately, once you have been significantly overweight, your skin has been stretched out and you have permanently lost some of its elasticity.  How much loss of elasticity, though, cannot be predicted.

Using minimal scar techniques, virtually all of the excess fat and breast tissue can be removed.  It then becomes a question of what will happen to the skin.  Much like a balloon when the air is allowed to escape, your skin will undoubtedly tighten.  We simply cannot predict how much it will tighten -- only Mother Nature knows for sure.

Therefore, in cases such as yours, and with a desire to minimize scarring, I oftentimes simply remove the excess tissues with minimal scars and then allow the skin to tighten as much as it possibly can.

We then evaluate at 6 months time.  If you are happy with the result, then nothing further need be done.  If, however, you would like to tighten the skin, then a smaller operation can be done.  This will leave some additional scars on your chest -- but they will be smaller than those that would have been required had the lax skin been addressed at your initial surgery.  That is because some of the skin has tightened during that six months -- and there is less lax skin to deal with.

This is what I call my two stage approach.

By the way, the areolar size also diminishes as well -- spontaneously!

Dr Jacobs