Normally weight loss surgery can be said as a two phase surgery where in the first step it’s the bar iatric surgery and the second phase is the reconstructive surgery. But still the patients are not aware of the second phase.
Bariatric surgery is used generally for the reduction of weight of ones body. Nowadays it is very much used in United States and other developed countries. The weight of the patient is very much reduced due to the surgical effects. But the main problem after the surgery is that the skin texture starts to shrink as the body becomes slim. Due to this, scars can be formed on the skin surface which does not look that good enough. The only way to remove this is to undergo plastic surgery. Mainly two types of plastic surgeries are used. One type is used to remove the excess fat and the other one is used to remove the loose skin.
Usually reconstructive surgery is used for the purpose. Patients who had massive loss of weight after the weight loss surgery have lots of lax skin as well as tissues. This can cause problems like severe and recurrent rashes. In a reconstructive surgery those body parts that become abnormal due to massive weight and other related diseases are restored to somewhat similar to the original. Thus the surgical procedure for an obese patient should be a two step procedure. The first step involves the normal bariatric surgery which is followed by reconstructive plastic surgery. But it is found commonly that the later ones are merely ignored by the patient. Patients even do not know about such a treatment phase.
The main problem with this is that the reconstructive surgery does not come under the insurance coverage. This is because usually such a surgery is known to be done on those who have cosmetic problems. The insurance company thinks that the patient is going for the surgery due to the cosmetic problems faced by him. But the real fact is that the excess skin and fat possesses many different problems to the patient as similar to the caused by his over weight. This should be made aware to those insurance companies. Many problems like recurrent dermatitis or cellulites are some among those. Functional impairments are seen on those patients who do not remove the excess skin. Thus such a type of surgery should be considered as reconstructive surgery rather than cosmetic surgery. Here the original texture and shape of the skin is made out from the abnormal form. But in cosmetic surgery the skin texture and shape is further improved from the ordinary shape. This distinction should be made known to the insurance companies.
Plastic surgery to remove loose skin: In one type of plastic surgery the excess loose skin is removed which is formed due to the sudden reduction in body size. Our skin is an elastic substance which is extended on the surface when a person becomes fat. When the same person losses weight all on a sudden the same skin cannot shrink back to the normal shape thereby excess skin is formed. Abdominoplasty or tummy tucking surgery is the most common procedure to regain the shape of the skin after the massive weigh reduction. Breast lift, facelift and necklift surgeries are done to regain the respective portions’ shape and texture.
Plastic surgery to remove excess fat: In the second type of surgery the excess fat inside the body is removed. Liposuction is the most common type of cosmetic surgical procedure done to remove the excess fat. The fat tissue increases in size when a person gains weight. These fat tissues which are in excess are removed so that the shape of the body is regained and the excess fat is removed. Liposuction is done usually around the abdomen where there is a lot of fat deposit. The fat is removed but no vital structures are damaged or altered. The fat in between the skin and the abdominal wall is removed. This fat cannot be sometimes removed naturally and hence is removed by surgery. If not removed these could still make problems to the patient as was the case earlier.
