High-Definition Lower Body Lift
When it comes to the lower body, weight loss patients develop laxity of multiple areas. This includes abdominal tissue excess and laxity, abdominal muscle weakness, waist tissue excess and laxity, pubic region sagging, lower back and love handle fatty rolls (aka hip rolls), outer thigh sagging, prominent saddlebags, buttock flattening and sagging, as well as thigh laxity. Furthermore, these changes can occur both in a horizontal as well as vertical direction.
A lower body lift specifically addresses the excess skin found on the abdomen, mons, thigh fronts, outer thighs, buttocks, waist, lower back, and hips. Although it is also known as circumferential tummy tuck or belt lipectomy, the lower body lift that Dr. Agha performs is far more comprehensive than a circumferential abdominoplasty. A belt lipectomy or circumferential abdominoplasty is essentially a tummy tuck, waist excision and buttocks lift in most cases.
Dr. Agha typically performs his signature high-definition lower body lift for most of his patients. A high-definition lower body lift has multiple components, all of which are performed through the one circumferential incision. These includes:
- Monsplasty
- Tummy tuck with abdominal muscle tightening
- Waist skin and tissue excision
- Anterior thigh Lift (front of thighs)
- Outer thigh lift
- Lower back skin excision
- Buttock Lift
- Liposuction of Lower back
- Liposuction of the Love-handles
- Liposuction of the waist
For most patients, Dr. Agha starts the procedure on their back first. At this point, if needed, he performs gentle liposuction of the saddlebags and love-handles. Most of the liposuctioned fat will then be washed and processed before being used for buttocks fat transfer later on.
Dr. Agha then places 2 perfectly curved V-shaped incisions on the lower back and the upper buttocks. On the flanks, the upper incision is made over the waist and the lower incision continues forward over the outer thigh. These incisions are made for removing the excess lower back and upper buttocks skin, as well as the excess tissues of waist and outer thigh. The locations of these incisions are marked on the patient precisely during the pre-operative marking session. Dr. Agha makes great effort to ensure that the maximal amount of excess skin is removed.
Once the 2 incisions are made, the skin of the lower back in between the 2 incisions is removed while preserving the underlying fat. Next, Dr. Agha utilizes the lower incision to create a pocket over the buttock muscles by lifting the buttock skin and fat off of the buttock muscles. The lower back fat pad is then mobilized and rotated into the created buttock pocket. The fat pad is then secured within the pocket while the buttock tissue is lifted over it. In this manner, Dr. Agha enhances the projection of the buttocks by using excess lower back fat that is molded as fat pads.
The buttock lift is then completed by bringing the 2 incisions together. Dr. Agha performs a 3 layers closure for all his incisions. Over the flanks, Dr. Agha uses an especial instrument invented by Dr. Lockwood, known as the Lockwood dissector, to elevate the outer thigh tissue off of the outer thigh muscle. Once the outer thigh skin and tissue is partially detached from the thigh muscles, the outer thigh tissue is then lifted and sutured back to the muscles at a higher position using anchoring sutures. It is these anchoring sutures that prevent future sagging of the lifted tissues. Closure of the 2 incisions at the sides completes the outer thigh lift as well as waist skin excision. This results in a smoother contour of the outer thigh skin and recreates the waist concavity. Next the liposuctioned fat is transferred into the lower buttocks to create a rounder and more natural buttock shape.
The patient will next be turned over to continue with the work in front. This entails continuation of the outer thigh incision over the front of the thighs and into the pubic area. Similarly, the upper incision is continued over the waist area towards the navel. Consistent with a tummy tuck, the excess tissue in between these two incisions is next excised over the abdominal muscles. Similar to the outer thigh lift, Dr. Agha then lifts the anterior (front) thighs and anchors them at a higher position using anchoring sutures. Once the abdominal muscles are tightened, three layers closure of the 2 incisions together complete anterior thigh lift, tummy tuck, and Monsplasty. Dr. Agha then complete his High-definition lower body lift by liposuctioning mainly the waist areas.