Question:
Will a Lower Body Lift or Tummy Tuck help my flabby thigh skin?

I had heard the inner thigh lift is extremely painful. I was wondering if the LBL or Tummy Tuck helps tighten up some of the skin from the inner thigh.    — Kelley (posted on April 30, 2005)

April 30, 2005
Both the plastic surgeon I talked to and seeing what others have posted, I would say no. The LBL will only address the outer thighs.
   — Ali M

April 30, 2005
The plastic surgeon that spoke at our support group said a LBL will not have a huge impact on inner thighs. If your inner thighs are a real issue, they will require a procedure all their own.
   — Shayna T.

April 30, 2005
My LBL did not help my thighs. It did wonders for my tummy tho. I had the inner thigh lift, and yes it has been hell, and not to mention, I am seriously dissapointed at this point in the results.
   — **willow**

April 30, 2005
My LBL did not help my inner thighs. There was initially some improvement on my outer thighs, but after awhile, they're as lumpy as ever.
   — mom2jtx3

May 1, 2005
Hello, I had the inner thigh light done twice; it is no more painful than any other surgery. The SECRET to any plastic surgery is to have the right doctor. The first time I had the inner thigh lift the dr. I used wanted to do one leg at a time, I was not happy about this but I did it. I first leg healed very quickly and looked very nice considering what it looked like before I started. Than came the second leg 6 weeks later. WELL my body was not ready for it. I think our bodies need allot of time to recuperate and have surgery again. The minute I got in my bed from the second leg it opened up to the bone. Luckily my mom was with me who is a nurse, she called my aunt to come over who is a nurse and they put me back together. The healing from that one is a really long story. If anyone wants to know how to heal an open wound without getting an infection please email me [email protected]. I will not try to sell you anything, you have to buy all the supplies at the pharmacy, it is a really long story and I want to finish this story. Ok, so I year later I decided to use the same surgeon because the leg that opened was hanging down worse than when I started, gravity had taken over. The doctor never ordered the compression garment that you are supposed to wear after surgery to hold your new body in place. So, I have him do the leg lifts again and this I insist he do both legs at once and he did, they healed nicely. However, still no compression garment and I did ask for him to order one and he said you do not need one. He was wrong. Two years later March 9, 2005 I went to a fabulous doctor in Boynton beach, FL Dr. Mark Schreiber 561-738-0727. This man is amazing; he looks at your body like it is a piece of art. I have already had him do a breast lift, breast augmentation, and he removed 430cc of liposuction from my under arms, stomach, thighs, and hips. He ordered the proper compression garment which I had to wear for 8 weeks. The garment is crotch less so it is no trouble to wear and have to use the restroom. He had me keep the tape over the incision this prevents scaring. He treats me like a friend in the office and I am very comfortable using him. I found him by reading these boards on who had plastic surgery by what doctor and his name kept appearing. He is fantastic and if you go to see him you may tell him I sent you Shana Frankel from Florida. I am having a lower by lift by him as soon my body if ready for more surgery. Oh yah you question, the lower body lift only lifts the legs if your doctor specifically tells you he will. Each detail must be worked out before you start and do not be afraid to ask questions. Shana [email protected]
   — shana1569

May 1, 2005
I had the hip to hip incision tt. Didn't help my inner thighs at all. I also had the inner thigh lift. Not half as painful as everyone says (either that or I'm getting used to being cut on!!). I had more pain with my arm lift then any other surgery - other then my RNY. Everyone's pain threshold is different.
   — Patty H.

May 2, 2005
Like the others have already said, the inner thighs are affected very minimally and really only at the beginning because the outer thighs are pulled up tight, so it gives some tension to inner skin, but not enough to fix any sharpei legs, like I had. (p)I dreaded the medial thigh lift. It was the 3rd surgery I had and done 8-1/2 months after the first PS and 5 months after the 2nd. However, miracles do happen. Of all 3 surgeries the recovery of the inner thighs was by far the best for me. It was incredibly painful and I did have the T connection on the left leg open up some and had to let it heal from the inside out, but even though, it was a much faster recovery than the others and than I expected. The swelling was quite minimal considering what was done also. I actually sat 4 hours in a meeting for work, 6 days after surgery. I expected to be out 3-4 weeks and was back to work full time 12 days after surgery. I believe, for me, that it had all to do with the extensive lipo work and preparation my surgeon did with my 2nd surgery. I had the upper portion of my LBL done during the 2nd surgery as he could not get all of the skin above the navel with the first surgery - strange anatomy. So along with the upper torso work he also did VERY extensive lipo on my legs. He removed 4 liters of fat from the two legs and this was only from the knee up and most of it in the first 12 inches above the knees. The pain, swelling, bruising etc was close to unbearable. I've decided that lipo is the absolute worst PS. It took 3 weeks before I could even begin to think about wearing some of the baggy legged pants I was wearing before that surgery. To go back to work I had to go out and buy a bunch of long dresses. I wore my compression garment that went from under the breasts to the calfs for about 6-8 weeks, just to keep the legs from swelling even worse. At about 3 weeks I could start to see the swelling coming down but it took a good 3-1/2 months before it was all gone. My surgeon said he would not even consider doing the skin removal for 4 months after the lipo and now I know why. I waited 5 months and glad I did. I needed to forget some of that pain before I put myself through surgery again. As horrible as the lipo was, I know it gave me the best possible results as he was just removing skin and very little fat, which I feel made it less traumatic to my body. Nothing scientific to support it, but for some reason it was not a horrible recovery. Even my surgeon had told me that the inner thigh lift is the worst of all PS's that I would consider. Many PS's in our area won't even do the medial thigh lift with the cut up the inner leg. They will only do the horizntal cut in the groin and pull up, which for me would have been a waste of time and money. I needed the circumference made smaller. The problem is that the recovery and healing from the inner thigh lift can be long and hard. Many times incisions open up etc. My surgeon was very surprised also at my relatively easy recovery. <p>In hind sight, because I carry/carried so much of my weight in my legs I should have done the thigh lift first and worked my way up. But I had insurance coverage for the full extended abdominoplasty, so that's where I started. I paid the difference to convert it to a LBL. However, over time the lateral thigh lift has drooped and I'm sure the extra weight on the legs had something to do with it. I now have noticeable saddle bags again, but a nice flat tummy. My legs overall are not what I had hoped they would be, but I do know he did his absolute best. The bottom line is I will always have larger legs and some sag. I have large knees and due to gravity it's impossible to get all of the vertical sag out at the knees. Basically I need to have something under the skin to hold the skin up in order to get the vertical sag gone. He said he feels they are within a few years of having sort of a tack strip that you would slide under the skin and anchor in place. Then you could pull up the skin and hang it on the tack strip. Over a few years the tack strip would dissolve and the plan would be that the tissue would have anchored down and stay pulled up. He pulled as hard as he could and took off a lot vertically, but the knees still sag some. At first I was disappointed but I have pretty much gotten used to how they look. They are tons better than they were and I like that there isn't all kinds of hanging skin when wearing shorts or a swimming suit. I have scheduled a revision lift to the lateral thighs and butt for late August assuming I can find $2000 and lose at least 10 lbs of the 10-15 I have found. My surgeon has agreed to redo the lift for next to nothing. The majority of the $2000 is the surgery center cost. It's not like he did anything wrong and feels he should do it cheap or free, but he also knows I'm not made of money and wants me to look the best I can. He feels he can take another 5 inches vertically off the lateral thighs, which will also provide a little improvement to my knees to. He said the saddle bags will sag again, but not nearly as much as they did this time and most likely I will be happy with the result long term. <p>Had I worked from the bottom up, so to speak, I might have avoided a redo on the lateral thighs, but who knows. The bottom line is I had so much skin to remove and the skin I have left is yucky quality, all stretch marked and what not. One cannot expect to have their body severely stretched out all of their life and then look like someone who's body never exceeded a normal size by more than 20 lbs. The greater the amount of skin to remove the more accepting we have to be of less than perfect. The funny part is that before WLS and PS it was my gut that always drove my pants size. Had to have pleats in too, if I was to stand a chance of wearing them and not spliting them when I sat down. The waists were always too big for me. Now it's the total opposite. Even with flat front pants they are loose in the front and the legs will fit but it's the waist that's the tightest. Unfortunately any weight that I gain tends to go right to the waist also, so that's doesn't help either. It's strange, but I'd still rather deal with that than the old body. There is a link to my PS pics on my profile page. It shows start to finish with what I've had done so far. If I had the money I could likely be in PS every 6 months tightening up this and that and getting my arms and breasts done, but the reality is any more PS will be a ways off due to finances. After the lateral thigh lift redo it's be happy with who far my body has come and go on with life.
   — zoedogcbr

June 2, 2005
The LBL helped some with my outer thighs...but not alot carried a great deal of my weight here preop WLS.Maybe my last surgeon was to conservative on what he took off??I just had a inner thigh lift last Wensday and its a T incision that goes down to about 1 inch before you get to my knee,and it curves around and goes up under my butt to about 1-1 and half inches before you hit my hip bone,I can already see abig difference in my back thigh,BIG difference.I can even still see I have some outer thigh flab/skin up higher that this was not able to address either.I probaly going to have to have a revison to my LBL.I am so ready to be done with plastics. Jamie
   — jamie H.