Meridian Surgical

Body contouring is a series of plastic surgery operations, which can be divided into two groups: lower body lift and upper body lift. Body contouring is the reshaping of the body’s problem areas and is a modern approach to cosmetic enhancement. Body contouring is also a safe and effective way to combat the unsightly sagging skin that often accompanies massive weight loss.

The cost of body contouring is a major factor for patients to consider and is yet another reason not to take body contouring options lightly. The reason that body contouring is more often performed on adults is because the body of young individuals, like teens, is still in the development process.

The superficial fascial system (SFS), the connective tissue network that resides below the dermis, has been implicated as a pivotal structure in body contouring procedures. This has the potential of changing or enhancing postbariatric body contouring outcomes, as the surgeon is dealing with large surface areas of tissue that need to be approximated under significant tension.

According to the American Society of Bariatric Surgery (ASBS), 200,000 patients will undergo massive weight loss surgery this year, and 75% of them will seek a plastic surgeon for body contouring after the weight loss surgery. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons statistics, approximately 68,000 body contouring procedures were performed in 2005 on patients who had experienced massive weight loss.

Fat accumulation tends to occur circumferentially around the abdomen and flanks. Fat deposits in the thigh and lower body area can be particularly resistant to diet and exercise. Body fat distribution is determined by gender, age, degree of physical activity, nutritional habits, and in some circumstances, drugs. In men, percent body fat may increase from 20% in young men to 25% in older men. At all ages after puberty, women have a higher percentage of body fat than men.

Health insurance does not usually cover cosmetic surgery such as body contouring. Some health researchers are questioning whether body contouring is growing too fast, without a medical consensus on its risks and benefits. Doctors performed at least 112,000 stomach-reduction surgeries in 2003, a 740 percent increase over 1998, according to the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of in-patient operations at hospitals compiled by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. You must be in good overall health and free of any active diseases or other pre-existing medical conditions that could complicate surgery and recovery.

Body contouring is not only suggested for those who have had a tummy tucks, but it is also recommended for those who have had children or those who’s bodies are changing with age. Body contouring is performed to enhance and improve your body’s appearance, and covers a variety of procedures. The best advice that I could give to a patient interested in body contouring is to research the doctor.

People who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (experiencing repeated cessation of breathing during sleep) are at greater risk from surgery. For example, it is well known that surgical patients with obstructive sleep apnea often present difficulties with intubation in advance of surgery, run a higher risk of complications during and particularly after surgery, more often require admission to intensive care and frequently stay longer in hospital.

The problem however is that in very many cases patients are not known to suffer from obstructive sleep apnea at the time of surgery and indeed it is only when complications arise as a result of their surgery that their condition comes to light and by then of course it is too late. So what can be done?

The problem of course is that many people suffer from sleep apnea without even being aware of it and, although hospitals do screen patients for a variety of conditions, surgical patients are not routinely screened for sleep apnea because the only reliable way to diagnose it is using an overnight sleep study, which is far too time consuming and, of course, too expensive.

The answer may however lie in a simple new questionnaire devised by a team of Canadian anesthesiologists.

The four question form to be completed by surgical patients simply asks whether they snore loudly, they are tired and sleepy during the day, they have every had anybody witness the fact that they stop breathing during sleep and they are being (or have been) treated for high blood pressure. The answers to these questions are then taken together with other routinely collected information such as the patients gender, age and body mass index and an assessment is made about whether or not the patient is likely to pose a risk for surgery.

In the case of high risk patients anesthesiologists can then not only select appropriate anesthetic techniques, but they can also ensure that the necessary equipment is to hand in the operating theater to cope with possible complications.

Only time will tell how effective this new idea will work but, if the questionnaire proves successful it will certainly save hospitals a lot of time and money and patients a good deal of unnecessary suffering.