If you're considering plastic surgery, there's a term worth clearing up: skin laxity. Whether you're considering a mommy makeover, BOTOX, or a laser skin tightening, you'll probably hear about skin laxity.
Merriam-Webster defines laxity as the "quality of being lax," and lax is defined as "loose." Loose skin is caused by a combination of factors, including age, sun exposure, smoking, genetics, and weight fluctuations, all of which reduce the collagen and elastin in the skin.
Why do plastic surgeons care so much about skin laxity? Because, the degree to which a patient's skin is loose or tight is a major factor when it comes to the body's response to surgical and nonsurgical aesthetic procedures. So, as a patient it's important to understand the role that skin laxity plays in aesthetic procedures.
What You Need to Know About Skin Laxity
Have you spent a lot of time in the sun? Were you a smoker for many years? Are you in your 40s or 50s? You see, aging, smoking, and sun exposure are all factors that contribute to your skin's ability to adhere to muscle and fat beneath the skin's surface.
While it's great to reduce body fat, if your skin doesn't cling to your body's new, smaller shape, then the results from your surgical procedure will be less than satisfactory. That's why we always consider skin laxity when we're consulting patients about certain aesthetic procedures.
To illustrate, once an individual undergoes a liposuction procedure, their skin will have excessively loose skin, which is why we generally recommend a tummy tuck to tighten the skin and reveal a tighter, slimmer physique.
Exploring Skin Tightening Procedures
When people are considering liposuction, they often don't think about hanging skin. Liposuction, even laser assisted liposuction doesn't tighten hanging skin. If the patient has true laxity, we'll recommend that they explore skin tightening procedures, such as a tummy tuck, facelift, or neck lift.
If you're not interested in having a surgical procedure done, you may want to consider nonsurgical skin tightening procedures, such as Pelleve. However, it's important to have realistic expectations. You can't expect to look like you had a tummy tuck if you opted for a minimally invasive procedure.
While patients are excited to get rid of those last few inches with lipo or CoolSculpting, our board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Yuly Gorodisky has an excellent grasp of human anatomy and which treatment options yield the best results, and he advises accordingly.
Schedule a consultation with our Westlake Village and Oxnard plastic surgeon today!