Why Your Weight Matters

In my previous post, I addressed the topic of how cosmetic surgery is not a weight-loss solution. It’s important that you’re aware of your BMI (which you can look up in that post) and understand how that impacts cosmetic procedures.

Why is your weight so important? The main reason we look at your BMI is that being obese directly affects your healing process after surgery. A number of large research studies have shown that people who are obese have a higher rate of wound breakdown complications in almost all surgical procedures than people who are not overweight. They are also at greater risk for complications such as blood clots, pneumonia, and seroma (a fluid collection that can develop under the
skin). Basically, the risk of almost any complication after surgery increases if you’re obese. People who are obese also experience longer recovery times, longer surgical times, and more postoperative infections.
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One of the main problems with being overweight or obese before plastic surgery is that there is a much higher chance that you won’t be happy with the results. There is only so much fat and skin that can be removed in surgery. Obesity hides fat under your muscles and around your organs (called “visceral fat”) where we cannot physically remove it. This leads to less-than- optimal results and dissatisfaction in the end. Many people regret spending a great deal of money and time on the procedure only to have less-than- optimal results due to being overweight. They come to realize that it would have been much better to lose the weight before surgery.

Learn more about whether pursuing a cosmetic procedure is the right choice for you by getting your copy of, “Making the Cut” available for purchase on Amazon.

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