Plastic Surgery in an Extreme Makeover

This term Extreme Makeover comes from recent television shows about plastic surgery. It refers to the multiple surgeries that can be done during one surgical session, coordinated to improve a person’s body proportions or facial appearance.

Each Extreme Makeover is customized to a person’s particular needs. There are advantages to performing several procedures in one session:

· Surgical time is shorter

· Fewer incisions are necessary

· Cost is reduced

· There is one recovery period instead of several

With obesity such a widespread problem in recent years, plastic surgeries to reduce excess fat and skin have become very much in demand. Many Extreme Makeovers focus on this alone or on this in one body area along with enhancements in other body areas.

· Examples of Plastic Surgery Combinations

· A tummy tuck with breast augmentation

· Breast reduction with liposuction on the back or upper arms

· A body lift with a breast lift

· A tummy tuck with a thigh lift

· A facelift with neck liposuction

· A facelift with a brow lift (forehead lift) and eyelid surgery

Increasingly often, people request multiple plastic surgery procedures like this after they have had bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery is a procedure to modify the digestive tract so as to reduce food intake or food absorption. It is a last resort for treating obesity, performed after diet and exercise have failed to be effective.

A Gastric Bypass is an example of bariatric surgery, where a small area of the stomach is stapled off separately and the upper part of the small intestine is attached to it. This makes the stomach unable to hold as much food as before. A Gastric Bypass is not a new procedure, as it has been safely performed for about fifty years. Typical results are from 65 percent to 80 percent loss of the excess body weight. It can also reverse diabetes that was caused by obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Extreme Makeover Safety

When multiple plastic surgery procedures are performed in one session, the patient has more to recovery from all at once. Dr. Richard Linderman, of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery of Indiana, has performed many multiple plastic surgeries and is convinced there are limits on how extensive the work can be.

“Having performed multiple extreme makeovers in my 30 years of practice, I generally will limit the length of anesthesia to six hours,” he stated. “It has been shown that complications do increase as the length of an operation exceeds this time period.”

Recovery from an extreme makeover is longer than recovery from a single plastic surgery. but if you can set aside the time for that recovery, you will have saved surgery, anesthesia, and facility fees and possibly other costs as well such as those for professional nursing assistance during recovery.

An extreme makeover is not something to trust to an inexperienced plastic surgeon. Shop around and choose your plastic surgeon wisely, asking many questions until you are satisfied that the surgeon is knowledgeable, reliable, and highly experienced in the procedures you would like to have.

Contact Dr. Linderman for more information about combining multiple cosmetic procedures into one office visit.