Thigh Lift Surgery

Who Is A Candidate For Thigh Lift Surgery?

Dr. Robert Backstein, Toronto thigh lift surgeon, advises thigh lift surgery be performed on individuals with loose, hanging thigh skin. This problem may be a result of significant weight loss or simply due to the natural aging process. Many people who have lost a significant amount of weight through diet, exercise and especially through weight loss surgery (gastric bypass surgery , gastric banding etc.) will be left with thighs with sagging skin. The same problem is often noted in patients that have not lost significant weight but have reached an age in which the elasticity of the skin of the upper thigh has been lost. In either case, it is essentially impossible to correct using exercise since the issue is one of loose skin and not of muscle or fat. Exercise tones muscle and lessens fat content but has no effect on skin tone. For this reason, many patients find that exercise and dieting actually make the problem of sagging thighs even worse since further loss of weight causes the skin to become even more redundant and loose. As such, Dr. Backstein suggests that good candidates for thigh lifts are individuals who have hanging skin on the thighs and are prepared to tolerate the scars that are left by the thigh lift surgery. Depending on the extent of loose skin on the thighs, either a modified thigh lift or full thigh lift will be recommended. A modified thigh lift is suggested for more minor cases of redundant thigh skin and uses a relatively short incision placed horizontally in the crease between the thigh and pubic region. A full thigh lift is suggested for more extensive cases and uses a long incision placed extending from the upper thigh to around the knee. Some patients will also be candidates for alternatives to thigh lift surgery to recontour their thighs.