Temporal and Demographic Factors Influencing the Desire for Plastic Surgery after Gastric Bypass Surgery

Abstract

A majority of post-bariatric surgery patients desire body contouring; younger, divorced, female patients who had laparoscopic gastric bypass voiced the strongest interest in body contouring. Thus, efforts should be directed toward facilitating body contouring in this subpopulation because they appear the most motivated.

The Prevalence of Body Contouring Surgery After Gastric Bypass Surgery

“…Therefore, there is a huge inequality between the number of patients who indicate that they desire such surgery and those who have actually received it. This seems to confirm the findings by Mitchell et al [14] and Gusenoff et al [13] with a desire for body contouring surgery in 54% versus 84.5% of all patients. Both authors ascribe this discrepancy to the fact that body contouring procedures are not covered by third party payors in the USA and a majority of patients could not afford the surgery.…”

“…Currently, it is seen as a cosmetic adjunct to bariatric surgery [7]. Nonetheless, these facts presage that large numbers of massive weight loss patients will present for reconstructive surgery following bariatric surgery in the coming years [13]. Our data suggest that 25% of women and 6% of men, in total 21% of all patients, had undergone body contouring [14] who reported on a percentage more than twice as high as ours.…”

Laparoscopic single-site surgery for placement of an adjustable gastric band: initial experience

“…Second, bariatric patients are very concerned with body image and cosmesis. These patients, particularly young women, are large consumers of plastic surgery [37]. Therefore, the cosmetic improvements may be an important benefit to them.…”

Physical discomfort due to redundant skin in post-bariatric surgery patients

“…7 These procedures are not covered by third-party payers in the USA but they are usually restricted to abdominal problems and only panniculectomies are covered. Nevertheless, most of the patients cannot afford the cost of the surgery.…”