Dr. Frank Elliott

April 30, 2012

Behind the Scenes: TV Weight Loss Contestants and Post-Weight Loss Surgery

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We’ve all seen those primetime TV shows where celebrity athletic trainers help everyday Americans lose weight the hard way—through diet and exercise. We follow them throughout the season to watch their weight loss transformations, but often don’t see what takes place between the regular season and the final results show. When individuals lose large amounts of weight quickly the skin often doesn’t have the time to keep up with the shrinkage leaving behind excess, sagging skin. Not only do weight loss patients find this extra skin to be bothersome and embarrassing, it can cause trouble during every day activities too.

Many post-bariatric and rapid weight loss patients seek plastic surgery to help eliminate the extra skin that can cause chafing, discomfort, and pain. Post-bariatric body contouring helps shape and tighten areas of sagging fat and skin while toning the underlying tissues for a more shapely and proportional silhouette. Body contouring can be performed almost anywhere to help patients achieve their desired look: arms, breasts, abdomen, back, flanks, and more.

Brachioplasty, or arm lift surgery, helps patients eliminate the sagging tissue and skin that occurs under the arm between the arm pit and the elbow. Colloquially known as a “bat wing,” this area of the arm is often hard to tone using just exercise alone. The arm lift procedure helps tighten up this sagging skin for a more toned appearance. Incisions under the arms mean scars are often hidden on the inner arm, along the back of the arm, or within the arm pit.

Breast lift surgery helps patients whose breasts may have begun to sag as a result of major weight loss. As with other areas of skin, the breasts can begin to sag and look deflated after post-bariatric surgery or even pregnancy. Breast lift surgery eliminates excess skin while moving the breasts into a more aesthetically pleasing position on the chest. For those looking to return their breasts to their former fullness, breast lift surgery can be combined with breast augmentation.

Abdominoplasty, more commonly referred to as tummy tuck surgery, involves the removal of excess skin and fat from around the waist. Oftentimes with weight loss, the lax skin left around the stomach and lower abdomen creates an “apron” appearance as it sags over the waistline. Tummy tuck surgery can remove this excess skin, and can also work to tighten underlying stomach muscles that have been stretched or torn during pregnancy.

Though you don’t see it, many contestants on weight loss shows opt for body contouring procedures after their weight loss journeys. Removing excess skin and tissue can help patients achieve their desired appearance. Dr. Franklyn Elliott offers body contouring at his Atlanta and Alpharetta locations. Contact our office for a consultation. Stay up to date on the latest plastic surgery news by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

March 23, 2012

Prophylactic Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy and Methods of Reconstruction

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Though once popular in the 70s and 80s, the prophylactic mastectomy fell out of favor with doctors and patients in the 90s. However, the advances of mammography in the 90s and beyond have lessened the number of women who are choosing to have one or both of their breasts removed to prevent the advent or spread of breast cancer.

Fewer people are as supportive of preventative mastectomies nowadays because of the potential complications and reports of low patient satisfaction. Thinner skin used over implants can cause capsular contracture or hardening of the tissue lining surrounding the implant.

In a chapter written for the textbook Surgery of the Breast, Dr. Franklyn Elliott writes regarding patient satisfaction:

Patients did not believe they were properly prepared for some of the results of these major surgical procedures, and because they did not have frank breast cancer, were not in the mind-set to deal properly with major surgical extirpation and reconstruction.

However, in a recent study only 5% of patients regretted undergoing prophylactic mastectomy and reconstruction surgery. Many felt that were inadequately prepared for the pain and incapacitation of the recovery period.

For this reason, it’s important that a plastic surgeon is one of the many consulting surgeons who advise a potential mastectomy and breast reconstruction patient.

Many women who are at a high risk for potential breast cancer and those who’ve had one breast removed because of cancer seek preventative mastectomies. There are many factors that oncologists, general surgeons, and plastic surgeons should consider before suggesting a prophylactic mastectomy for a patient including heredity, the breast cancer gene (BRCA1 and BRCA2), previous diagnoses, and more. It must also be explained to patients that advances in mammography techniques have made it easier to track potential cancers without removing the entire breast.

Choosing a preventative unilateral or bilateral mastectomy is a difficult choice for any woman. According to the chapter written by Dr. Elliott, the “plastic surgeon must limit his or her role to the very accurate description of the patient’s options after mastectomy and, equally important, a full and complete discussion of the recovery phase and the expected result.”

Oftentimes, prophylactic mastectomy patients are shown before and after pictures of women who have had breast cancer and undergone mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery. It’s important that patients are given information specific to their particular procedure, regardless of the similarities between their procedures and another patient’s.

It’s rare that women with no risk factors are interested in prophylactic mastectomies with reconstructions. Some patients are motivated by fear. However a lack of risk factors in patients seeking prophylactic mastectomies probably means that they should not be considered for surgery.

Though controversial among some doctors and patients, there are benefits to preventative mastectomy and breast reconstruction. In the chapter, Dr. Elliott concludes, “With the variety of techniques available for breast reconstruction, intelligent management of the overlying skin, and gradual formation of the breast mass itself, patients can be increasingly assured of complete or near complete breast tissue removal and safe, predictable, uncomplicated breast reconstruction.”

To read the chapter, click here (link to PDF). Other articles written and used by Dr. Franklyn Elliott can be found on his articles page. You can also connect with him on Facebook and Twitter for the latest in plastic and reconstructive surgery news.

January 15, 2012

What Happens During Breast Lift Surgery?

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Many women undergo breast lift surgery (or mastopexy) to help restore the breast to a more natural, elevated position. The effects of gravity, weight loss, and/or pregnancy can cause the breast skin to become stretched and sag, leaving the breast looking droopy and pendulous. During breast lift surgery, excess skin and breast tissue are removed and the breast is repositioned to a more aesthetically pleasing location on the chest.

While some women choose to undergo breast augmentation during breast lift surgery, this is not always necessary and is a choice each patient should make with the help of a board certified cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon like Atlanta plastic surgeon Dr. Franklyn Elliott. Board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery since 1984, Dr. Elliott specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive breast surgery. He prides himself on creating natural-looking breast surgery results using his nearly 30 years of surgical experience.

For more information on breast surgery or Dr. Elliott, check out his website. You can also stay up to date on the latest Atlanta plastic surgery news by following Dr. Elliott on Facebook and Twitter.

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