Question:
COST FOR LOWER BODY LIFT AND THIGH REDUCTION?

Hello, I had a consult with my plastic surgeon and he quoted $10,200 for a lower body lift and thigh reduction. Now that also INCLUDED the hospital. His price for the lower body was $6,000 and the thighs reduction was $4,000 but if I did them together he would take off the $4,000 for HIS total of $6,000. He is in a very well respected plastic surgeon practice. And unfortunately I will have to pay out of my pocket. Any thoughts?    — Kelly* P. (posted on October 6, 2004)

October 6, 2004
My first quote so far in MD was $18k complete. Includes anesthesia, operating rm, Dr. fees, follow up, support garments etc . Lower Body Lift, Tummy Tuck, Lipo Suction of thigh and flanks plus a Thigh and Buttock Lift. He also was going to move fat from my thighs to my derriere because when I lost weight I lost all of the fat in my butt cheeks as well. Best wishes, Maggie B.
   — M B.

October 6, 2004
Wow! I think that's a great price. I had more out of pocket than that for the surgeon's fees alone for my LBL and breast lift, and insurance was paying the TT part!
   — mom2jtx3

October 6, 2004
I went for a PS consult on monday. The price for the LBL was $15000-18000 and the price for the thighs/butt is $5300. These prices include surgeon, anesthesia, and OR fees. I would also have to pay oop. Seems like you're getting a pretty sweet deal! Best of luck.
   — JaimeO

October 6, 2004
Hi. I live in NJ and my LBL cost about $12,000. Half of that was my surgeon's fee, and the rest was for the anesthesiologist, hospital fees and testing. All the follow-up visits are included in the $6k my doctor received. I'd say what you were quoted is a very fair price.
   — inkychick

October 6, 2004
I say beware of getting too much for your money. Did you see pics of people he has done the exact group of procedures on? If not, then why did he not show them to you. It is typical to get a reduction when doing more than one procedure at a time, but all of the work you are talking about for a $6,000 surgeon fee is a little hard to believe, if this is being done in the US. Has this surgeon done a lot of WLS patients with extensive weight loss? If you don't have tons of skin to remove then it might be possible that this fee would be about right. For me I had/have tons to remove. <p>My insurance paid for the full extended abdominoplasty portion of my LBL and I paid for the lateral thigh portion. My costs for the LTL for surgeon, hospital, anesthesia etc. was $6,000. The total itemized bill for the hospital, including 3 days in the hospital was a little over $36,000. When they split up the bill, approx. $19,500 was billed to insurance which was covered at 90% due to a contract between the hospital and insurance company. The balance of the $36,000 was covered by the $3400 I paid the hospital. Add on the total surgeon's fee ($7,600) and the anesthesiologist ($3000) and you have a grant total of $46,600. <p>I am having a medial thigh lift (lots of skin to remove) in Nov. and the cost is $10,600. This does include some redo work on my upper torse, but all I am covering is the cost of the hospital and donating a unit of blood, as the surgeon is doing his work for free. The legs are $9,000 of the $10,600. I also had a 2nd stage abdominoplasty, to remove the upper role above the belly button, as well as extensive lipo in my legs in preparation for the skin removal and the grand total on that one was approx. $25,000. $14,850 paid by insurance, $2,750 paid by me and the balance written off because I was given a cosmetic surgery package price for my portion of the work. <p>The surgeon's cost to a arms (extensive skin to remove), breast lift and implants, is $13,800. So it is going to cost major bucks to rebuild this former SMO body. From this point forward the cost is totally mine so I have no idea when I will be able to afford arm and breast work. I also suspect I will need a slight redo on my LBL to give one last vertical pull to the legs and thigs and butt. Due to all the excess skin and weight on my legs, the skin on the outer thigh/butt areas has dropped some. <p>Just make sure you have seen plenty of pics and have talked with some of this docs patients before proceding. Reputation by word of mouth only means so much. Hearing things from the mouths of former patients, means tons!
   — zoedogcbr

October 9, 2004
Hi. All of the other posters numbers seemed about average to me. The low fees might be coming off the hospital end...is a physician putting you to sleep in a fully accredited facility and will you be monitored for 24 hours in-house? These are common areas of cost-cutting that in my opinion may be unsafe.
   — DrL

October 14, 2004
$15K for LBL, and revision of my TT and thigh lift. This is in the Tampa Bay area. I would have paid double to get the great results I have and I'm just 2 weeks post op. If you'd like to know more about my PS experiences (all good) check out my profile and the PS message board. DN @ GOAL
   — DianeN