LesserTummy.com

Plastic Surgery After Significant Weight Loss is Necessary But Will Your Health Care Provider Pay For It? Many Americans are undergoing surgical treatment for obesity including laparoscopic banding and gastric bypass surgery. Successful patients will lose around 100 lbs within 18-24 months of surgery. These patients are left with excess sagging skin requiring body contouring by qualified plastic surgeons.

Society of Plastic Surgeons more than 52,000 body contouring procedures were performed for massive weight loss patients in 2003. These procedures include buttock lifts, thigh lifts, breast lifts, upper arm lifts and tummy tucks. “I am seeing an increase in demand for post-bariatric body contouring after weight loss”, remarks board-certified plastic surgeon Douglas M. Senderoff, MD who practices plastic surgery in Manhattan and Westchester, New York. In addition, these patients may also be candidates for other cosmetic procedures such as liposuction and facelift due to the excessive amounts of sagging skin after tremendous weight-loss. According to Dr. Senderoff the surgery should be performed at around one year after the weight loss procedure or when the patient’s weight is stable for at least 3 months.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 27% of Americans qualify as obese today as compared to only 15% in 1980. The National Institute of Health considers individuals with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or above to be morbidly obese. A BMI of 40 is equivalent to a 6 foot man weighing 294 lbs. This translates into roughly 6 million Americans with morbid obesity. Many Americans are undergoing surgical treatment for obesity including laparoscopic banding and gastric bypass surgery. Successful patients will lose around 100 lbs within 18-24 months of surgery. These patients are left with excess sagging skin requiring body contouring by qualified plastic surgeons.

The American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) projects that more than 144,000 patients will have bariatric surgery in 2004 compared to the 103,000 and 67,000 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003 and 2002, respectively. The ASPS predicts this increase in weight loss surgery will lead to a 36 percent increase in body contouring operations in 2004.

At this time there is no clear answer whether post-bariatric surgical body contouring is medically necessary or cosmetic. Some insurers will provide coverage for the various lift procedures while others will deny coverage deeming the surgery as not medically necessary. Dr. Senderoff advises patients to check with their insurance company and ask whether their policy covers body contouring after weight loss. The insurance company will usually require medical notes and photos prior to authorizing surgery.

“The satisfaction rate after post-bariatric body contouring surgery is tremendous”, says Dr Senderoff. “My patients are happy to get rid of all that extra skin after losing all their extra weight. It seems as if body contouring after weight loss or bariatric surgery is the icing on the cake for my clients.”

For more information, please contact:
Park Avenue Aesthetic Surgery, PC
Douglas M. Senderoff, MD, FACS
461 Park Avenue South
Manhattan, NY 10016
t) 212.481.3939
w) http://www.drsenderoff.com

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2005 at 1:10 am and is filed under After Weight Loss Surgery, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.