Body lift in London, Bordeaux and Royan

Body lifts are a surgical procedure that remove excess skin, which may or may not be associated to excess fat, from the entirety of the waist area. The operation works simultaneously on the stomach, the thighs, and the buttocks. A body lift is an abdominoplasty that continues behind your stomach with a horizontal scar that goes around your waist like a belt. Body lifts work on the front and back of your waist.

Have you lost a lot of weight? Have you had a bariatric surgery (gastric band, sleeve, by pass, or gastrectomy)? Does excess skin around your abdominal belt bother you? Do you have an abdominal apron, flat and/or sagging buttocks?

By choosing to have a body lift you will be correcting all of these imperfections. Loose skin can have physical/practical, aesthetic, and psychological effects. These imperfections restrain your day-to-day freedoms, whether in your choice of clothes, your relationship with your body, or in your intimate life. The daily impairments caused by excess skin or fat in your waist area are numerous.

Doctor Guillaume Lemierre has been practicing cosmetic medicine in Bordeaux and Royan for over 10 years. He is specialised in silhouette surgery and can guide you towards the best treatment for you, which may be a body lift.

Body lifts have several goals: to have a harmonious, symmetrical, lengthy, and thin silhouette. You will learn to love your body once again and regain self-confidence. Although it is a significant surgical procedure, it has spectacular results and thanks to technological innovations and improvements in recent years, the procedure is safer and more efficient.

Body lifts, like abdominoplasties, give way to incredible results that improve your comfort and quality of life, especially if you have had a sudden weight loss. The procedure is long, tiring, and demanding for the surgeons who make it a point to transform your body for 6 hours. It is important to acknowledge the potential risks associated with the procedure.

The procedure works on the entirety of the abdominal belt including:

• The buttocks: lifted up and with more volume
• The hips: reshaped and tightened
• The back: a corrected curvature
• The waist: slimmed down
• The saddlebags: flattened down

Summary:

• Why choose to have a body lift?
• What are the advantages and possible inconveniences/risks?
• What does a typical session look like?
• A long lasting and natural result
• What is the post-operative procedure?

Why choose to have a body lift?

As previously indicated, a body lift removes the excess skin situated on the abdominal belt (front and back).

During the procedure, your surgeon, Doctor Lemierre, can remove several tens of centimetres of skin located at the waist. The amount of skin removed is adapted to your personal situation.

It is important to know that this is a delicate and tiring operation for surgeons and patients so it is essential to understand the possible risks. However, this procedure also provides the most stunning results.

The goal is provide you with a harmonious, contoured, thin silhouette. But also to allow you to move more freely; movement can often be limited by excess skin. If Doctor Lemierre thinks there is excess fat, he will also perform liposuction during the procedure.

The body lift works on:

• The front of the body: it is an abdominoplasty. The abdomen is flattened and pulled down. The pubis is reduced, flattened, and lifted up.
• The side of the body: the lateral skin that falls on top of the waist is treated.
• The back of the body: saddlebags are flattened, and tightened upwards. The buttocks are lifted up and contoured; the small of the back is flattened.

There is a difference between a body lift procedure for men and women. A body lift is a personalised procedure that Doctor Lemierre caters to your body’s morphology.

For men, body lifts work particularly well on the love handles, the lower back, and above the waistline. For men, body lifts are more effective above the waistline.

For women, body lifts are very efficient in the buttocks and love handles region through liposuction.

After a body lift, you will rediscover your body. Your body will have transformed. However, Doctor Guillaume Lemierre makes it a point to respect your body’s morphology and your personality all while redrawing your silhouette to be well proportioned, harmonious, symmetrical, and meeting your desires.

The body lift is most often recommended when there has been a sudden weight loss (sleeve, gastric band, by pass, etc.), but can also be suggested if you have had liposuction, if your skin is naturally loose and saggy, if you have had several pregnancies, or if the skin on your stomach has loosened. Obesity can also be a reason to opt for a body lift, in which case Doctor Lemierre will determine if you can have a body lift without having a bariatric surgery.

What are the advantages and possible inconveniences/risks?

The advantages of a body lift:

• Spectacular, immediate, natural, and long lasting results
• A well proportioned, harmonious, and symmetrical silhouette
• Self-confidence
• Learning to love your body once again
• An intense surgery but with moderate post-operation repercussions
• In some cases your social security or insurance may cover some of the costs

The possible inconveniences/risks of a body lift:

• Bruising and swelling may appear
• Slow scarring process
• Necrosis
• Infection
• Phlebitis
• Pulmonary embolism
• …

Be careful, it is important to tell the doctor if you are a smoker, as you will have to stop smoking one month before and after the procedure. Tobacco increases the risk of complications associated with general anaesthesia. It can also slow down the healing process.

It is highly recommended that you do not take any medicine containing aspirin 10 to 15 days before the operation.

Under certain conditions, your social security or private insurance may cover some of the costs of the operation, but this is not the case each time. The payment will be your responsibility.

What does a typical session look like?

A body lift is done under general anaesthesia and lasts about 4 to 6 hours. You will have a consultation session with your anaesthesiologist at least 48 hours before the procedure.

As previously indicated, a body lift is an intense procedure. Hospitalisation post-procedure is 2 to 3 days depending on the type of operation. The more skin Doctor Lemierre removes, the more rest and care you will need in one of his clinics in Bordeaux or Royan.

During the operation, Doctor Lemierre can remove several tens of centimetres of skin, but this is always adapted to your specific case. He will perform a personalised liposuction on the areas determined best for you: your outer thighs, your buttocks, your hips, or your stomach, and will then remove the excess skin.

The day of the operation, Doctor Lemierre will mark your skin to determine the placement of your future scars: on the stomach, at least one around the bellybutton, a horizontal scar just above the pubis that is extended along the circumference of your waist (like a belt). These scars are not visible in a bathing suit or under-garments.

Once you have had the anaesthesia and are asleep, the procedure will begin with you lying on your stomach. It is at this moment that Doctor Lemierre will perform liposuction on the saddlebags and the hips to remove the excess skin situated on the lower back. He will then lift up the buttocks, tighten the external thigh and can even perform a lipostructure to increase the volume in your buttocks.

For women: this tightens the external thigh, lifts the buttocks.

For men: a tightening of the love handles.

You will then be turned onto your back and Doctor Lemierre will perform an abdominoplasty that connects the incision in your back to the part that is near your pubis (like a belt).

A long lasting and natural result

After the procedure, which lasts between 5 and 6 hours, where specialists will work you on, the results are incredible.

While the effects are immediate, they will stabilise around 3 months post-op, and you will get to fully appreciate them after one year, which is the time it takes for the region deflate and for the scars to be nearly invisible.

Thanks to a volume reduction on your whole body, the removal of fat through liposuction, lifts, and lipostructure on your buttocks, a body lift can help you go down 6 pant sizes.

You will without a doubt be satisfied by the procedure which will give you a new, harmonious, elongated, thinned down silhouette.

You will have never before felt so good in your body. You will regain self-confidence. And you will be able to say goodbye to the daily insecurities you faced in the past.

What is the post-operative procedure?

Although this is a relatively intense surgery that requires 2 to 3 days hospitalisation, the post-operation pain is very moderate, especially if the abdominoplasty did not touch your abdominal muscles.

A body lift requires several weeks rest, meaning you will have to put all your activities on hold. If it is a corrective surgery, your doctor will give you a medical leave prescription for work. If it is a cosmetic surgery, you will have to take vacation days to ensure your body gets the rest it needs.

The scars will diminish in the year following the operation and will become nearly invisible.

You will have to wear bandages and compression pantyhose day and night for one month following the operation.

A nurse will come change your bandages and administer anticoagulation injections two to three times a week to limit phlebitis for 15 days post-operation.

You should not expose your scars to the sun for at least one year.

At first it will be difficult to keep yourself upright, but full mobility comes back in the weeks following the operation.

It is recommended that you begin walking the day after your operation to avoid any complications.

You can resume professional activities 3 to 4 weeks after the operation. You can resume physical activities 4 to 8 weeks post-operation.

For any further information or guidance do not hesitate to contact Doctor Guillaume Lemierre. For this type of operation it is essential to choose an experienced surgeon.

Taking care of your scars

For 15 days after the procedure, your scars will not look too bad. It is after this period that your scars will become redder, thicker, and harder. Do not worry, this is a good sign! This ‘inflammatory’ period can last up to 9 months.

To optimise the scarring process and make them nearly invisible, you will have to massage your scars. As of 15 days post-op, you will very delicately apply a scarring cream that the doctor has prescribed for one month. The first massages may be a bit painful, but do not be alarmed. Over time, it will become less and less painful thanks to the reoccurring massages. You should massage the scars one or two times a day for about ten minutes. Many studies show that these massages lessen the effects of the scarring to give you a better aesthetic and cosmetic result post-operation.