Upper Body Lift
[Mastopexy / Brachioplasty]
Upper Body lift surgery is a procedure that reshapes and recontours the body after a patient has lost significant weight. The goal of upper body lift is to remove the excess skin and fat from the upper torso and arms. It also treats sagging fatty tissue and cellulite. Upper body lifts focus on the breasts, chest, arms and middle back areas.
Upper body lift surgery involves:
•Reducing arm and chest laxity
•Reshaping the breasts
•Removing excess tissue from chest, back and arms
Upper Body Lift Surgery
There are two types of upper body lifts--the first lifts the breasts and removes excess tissue in the arms and the second also lifts the breasts but instead of removing excess tissue from the arms, it removes excess tissue from the upper back rolls. During the body lift surgery, skin is lifted from underlying tissues, excising what is redundant and then suturing the remainder closed. In women this is often combined with placing breast implants at the same time in order to further enhance the new shape. In men the focus is more on addressing gynecomastia. After a body lift surgery, surgical drains are needed for several days to weeks to evacuate excess liquids from the body, and patients are required to wear compression garments for weeks to facilitate a faster healing.
This is an extensive procedure that we always perform at the hospital. Depending on the patient, however, an overnight stay is not always necessary. Other procedures can often be combined with an upper body lift, such as abdominoplasty, but this is very dependent on the individual patient's health status.
Body Lift Candidates
A body lift candidate is a person who typically, either can't lose significant amounts of weight by other means such as dieting and exercising, or already suffers from loose (inelastic) skin on many or most areas of the body as a result of age, childbearing or extreme weight loss due to diet, exercise or bariatric surgery. A body lift can also help a mother get her pre-pregnancy body back.
The best candidate for a body lift is a person who has maintained a stable weight for at least six to twelve months. It is also desirable that a body lift candidate exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet.
Body Lift and Bariatric Surgery
Candidates who have had gastric bypass, Lap-Band or another gastric restrictive procedure should wait at least one year after their weight loss surgery. This will allow the patient to fully recover from their previous surgery; have more time to lose the weight, and it will also give the patient time to reduce the impact of the health problems associated with their obesity.
Body Lift and Pregnancy
For women who plan to have children, it is recommended that they postpone their body lift surgery until after childbirth. Normal-weight women in their 30s and 40s may opt for a body lift to remove remaining excess skin and fatty tissue after reducing excessive post-pregnancy weight.
Insurance
Upper body lifts are sometimes covered by health insurance if they can be shown to be medically necessary. We work with your doctor and your health insurance to provide proper documentation in order to authorize these procedures. In cases where procedures are not medically necessary or we cannot obtain authorization, the costs of the cosmetic procedures may be defrayed by doing medically necessary procedures (such as gynecological procedures or hernia repair) at the same time.
