For example, after weight loss, a skin tightening is one way to get rid of excess skin. We explain the different types of skin tightening.
During a skin tightening, excess skin and fat tissue is removed. This is often the result of severe weight loss. But many women are also familiar with the problem after pregnancy.
But there is also excess skin on the thighs and upper arms, where the signs of aging can be seen, for example, in the unwelcome waving arms. If you don’t want to live with those sagging skin flaps, skin tightening surgery is the best way to optically rejuvenate the affected areas of the body.
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For a harmonious body shape: the tummy tuck
Anyone who has lost a lot of weight or has given birth to a child knows this: often sagging and overstretched skin on the abdomen remains. With a tummy tuck, the ideal of a tight and natural-looking abdominal wall is no longer a dream.
A complete tummy tuck is the first choice for removing a large apron of fat. However, if you only have excess skin, especially on the lower abdomen, a mini tummy tuck is advisable. The advantage: This beauty operation is a much smaller procedure that does not even require general anesthesia. In addition, the navel can remain in its original position.
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Body contouring for the buttocks: the buttocks tuck
Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez & Co.: They probably have the most well-known crack butts in the show industry and that’s no coincidence. A firm and plump bottom is part of the ideal of beauty for many people. The only disadvantage is that the skin on the buttocks also sags due to age and after a significant weight loss. This is where the buttock lift comes in, where excess skin is removed with the aim of tightening the buttocks.
You have probably come across the term Brazilian but lift in connection with buttock tucking. In this – not entirely uncontroversial – procedure, the tightening of the buttocks is combined with liposuction. However, liposuction is not performed on the buttocks, but on another part of the body. The extracted autologous fat is then used in turn to enlarge the buttocks, while the skin is tightened at the same time.
Goodbye “wave arms”: The upper arm lift
Many women over 40 also dislike the so-called “waving arms”. The sagging skin on the upper arms is not only annoying when waving, but also when you want to wear sleeveless clothing. For sagging skin, an upper arm lift is an option, in which the excess skin and fatty tissue are surgically removed.
As a result, your arms will appear toned again, you’ll have a more youthful, athletic look and the inhibition of wearing sleeveless tops will be a thing of the past.
Body lift: liposuction and skin tightening
A full body tightening, also known as a body lift, is advisable if, for example, a significant fat apron has developed after a significant weight reduction. A body lift is the most extensive operation in cosmetic surgery, which is performed under general anesthesia and lasts up to 6 hours.
Body lifting goes back to the American doctor Ted Lockwood, who developed this operation in the 1990s. Therefore it is also called the Lockwood method. Body lift combines several skin tightening methods, often together with liposuction, allowing the surgeon to change the entire body shape.
The results are sensational. Celebrities such as celebrity emigrant Patricia Blanco or ex-DSDS star Aline Bachmann have had a more or less complete body lift, including a tummy, bottom and arm lift, and are now going through life with a completely new body awareness and enormous self-confidence.
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Improve your quality of life with a breast lift
In addition to a flat stomach, a firm buttocks and firm upper arms, another beauty operation is at the top of the list: the breast lift ; After all, a well-formed breast is the ultimate symbol of femininity and beauty.
In reality, however, it is the case that age, significant weight reduction, pregnancy or even breastfeeding change a woman’s breasts significantly. The result is excess skin that can be removed by a breast lift, known in plastic surgery as a mastopexy.
question to the expert
How does a breast lift work and are there scars?
Unfortunately, every operation also leaves scars. I try to minimize this effect as best as possible by doing without scalpels in favor of high-frequency electro-coagulation technology, because with this method, thanks to the laser-like system, the bleeding is stopped during the operation. This causes only minimal damage to the existing tissue, which optimizes and accelerates wound healing.
There are basically three different incision patterns for breast lifts: the circular breast lift (also known as the “Benelli method”), the I-incision and the T-incision.
In the case of a circular breast lift, the patient’s nipples are in the correct position, but too large. Because there is too much skin due to weight loss or pregnancy, the result is sagging breasts. In the method, named after the Italian surgeon Benelli, the surgeon makes a circular incision around the areola and removes the excess skin. The scar-minimized incision only leaves a scar on the edge of the nipple.
Another type of breast lift is the so-called I-incision or Lejour technique, which creates an I-shaped scar. This incision technique is used when there is a large amount of excess skin and a clearly sunken nipple. In order to bring the nipple back into the correct position, incisions are made around the nipple and perpendicularly from the nipple towards the inframammary crease (“I-incision”). There are different surgical techniques that aim to make the effect of the breast lift last as long as possible.
The most complex form of breast lift is the T-cut, in which a lot of excess skin and a very far downward standing nipple are corrected. As the name suggests, the shape of this incision is similar to the letter T. The incision begins at the areola, runs from there vertically down to the lower breast crease and continues on this left and right.
The following applies to all three breast lift methods: as soon as the scars have largely healed, they can be treated with tattoo or laser technology and made almost invisible.
