After marked weight loss, patients often have excess and saggy skin around the thighs. In those patients, the outer part of the thighs can be lifted with a body lift procedure, which lifts the outer thighs and buttocks. If the skin excess is at the inner parts of the thigh, then a medial thigh lift is needed. These procedures often include liposuction to thin the tissues. The excess skin is removed and the tissues are lifted and tightened into appropriate positions.
Thigh lifts are not just for persons that have lost a lot of weight. Some patients have mild to moderate amounts of excess skin, which can also be improved with these procedures. If you are bothered by the contours of your thighs, then an outer or inner thigh lift may be an excellent option for you.
Is an Outer Thigh and Buttock Lift Right for Me?
An outer thigh and buttock lift is an option for patients with excess and saggy skin along the outer thighs and upper buttocks. The patients who have lost marked amount of weight are often candidates for this procedure. However, the outer thighs and buttocks are often treated with the abdomen during a lower body lift procedure.
If a patient has already had a tummy tuck and still has excess tissue at the outer thighs and buttocks, then the outer thigh and buttock lift, also known as a transverse thigh and buttock lift, is an excellent option. With this procedure, a large amount of tissue is removed in a transverse fashion from the outer thighs and buttocks and the tissues are elevated and lifted into a more natural and youthful position.
Thigh and Buttock Lifts and Buttock Augmentation
The outer thigh and buttock lift procedures are excellent for reshaping and sculpting the buttocks. In some cases, the tissue of the upper buttocks can be preserved and repositioned to the central buttocks, which provides an improved shape, projection, and volume of the buttocks.
Our preferred surgery for the buttocks after thigh and buttock lift procedures is to perform a fat transfer to the buttocks. The sculpting of the buttocks with fat grafting is often called a Brazilian butt lift. To sculpt the buttocks with fat, the procedure can be performed simultaneously with the thigh and buttock lift. Buttock fat grafting can also be repeated a few months later following the outer thigh and buttock lift, if needed.
Is an Inner Thigh Lift Right for Me?
The inner thigh lift is most commonly performed in patients that have lost a large amount of weight. In such cases, there is excess and hanging skin at the front and inner part of the thighs. Often, this excess skin is found from the groin to the knee. With the inner thigh lift, also known as a medial thigh lift, the excess skin is removed and the tissues are repositioned and lifted. There are two approaches to the medial thigh lift. In most patients, the best treatment involves the removal of tissue from the groin to the knee. In doing so, a scar resides in the bikini line at the groin crease and travels down the inner thigh to the knee.
In patients who have mild skin excess, it is possible to perform the inner thigh lift by removing a crescent pattern of skin in the groin and inner thigh region and elevating the tissue to the groin crease. With this more limited medial thigh lift, the resulting scar is in the bikini line in the groin only.
Each case is evaluated and treated on an individual basis, tailoring the surgical plan to the anatomical findings of the patient and the patient’s aesthetic goals. Our experience with all the variations of skin excess and body forms allows us to provide optimal results for all types of thigh lift patients. Thigh lift surgery is a complex surgery performed over a wide part of the body. To ensure your safety and comfort, we perform thigh lift procedures using general anesthesia. In addition, the general anesthetic is augmented with local anesthetic to provide numbing of the tissue during and immediately after surgery. This approach, combined with a rapid recovery anesthetic technique, provides our patients with optimal comfort after surgery.
Outer Thigh and Buttock Lift Technique
The transverse thigh and buttock lift is designed to treat the tissues from the front of the groin area, along the sides of the outer thighs, to the midline of the buttocks. With the outer thigh and buttock lift tissue is removed around approximately 3/4 of the body. The incision is designed to result in a scar that falls within the underwear line. With this approach, most of our patients can wear low rise pants and bikinis without having exposure of their scars.
Inner Thigh Lift Technique
The inner thigh or medial thigh lift procedure is performed with the patient in the supine position. In most cases, liposuction is used to loosen the tissues that are going to be removed and to contour the surrounding areas as needed. In most cases, a wide ellipse of tissue is removed from the groin to the knee. In addition, a small amount of tissue is removed along the front of the groin crease and the bikini line. If the excess tissue includes the knee region, then the final scar is below the knee at the inner aspect of the calf region.
In an occasional patient, a medial thigh is accomplished with removal of a small amount of skin at the inner part of the upper thigh. In such cases, the thigh is lifted vertically and the tissues are closed at the groin crease in the bikini line.
The incisions are closed with multiple layers of strong dissolving sutures. Usually, most of these sutures will dissolve under the skin. In some areas, especially with the upper part of the medial thigh lifts, external sutures will be placed. Those external sutures are removed about one week after surgery. The incisions are covered with tape and soft gauze dressings. A gentle compressive garment is then placed.
Recovery from Thigh Lift Surgery
The recovery begins at the Meridian Center. There you will be awake and recovering from your surgery. Once you have good pain control and can take oral medications, you are sent home. The outer thigh and buttock lift and the inner thigh lift procedures are a major commitment in time and energy postoperatively. Expect to need two weeks to recover before you can return to basic work and home activities. After 4 – 6 weeks you may resume light exercise and after six weeks you can resume full activity.
After the outer thigh and buttock lift, your outer thighs will be tight, lifted, and smooth. Your buttocks will be lifted and reduced in size. The scars should fall within the bikini line. After an inner thigh lift, the thighs are tight and smooth. The scar will be in the front of the groin crease in the bikini line and down the inner part of the thigh to about the knee level. The results from both procedures are very dramatic and life changing for most patients.
If you would like slimmer, more shapely thighs, contact our office in Portland for more information about thigh lift. Schedule a consultation by calling (503) 783-0544.
