If you are unhappy with your legs maybe an inner thigh lift is for you. There are several potential problem areas in women’s legs: saddlebags in the outer thigh, cellulite, bulky knees and sagging inner thighs. Many of these problems can be treated with liposuction alone. Cellulite may require a number of different treatments: liposuction, fat grafting, endodermology, and Thermage among others. But the one area that can be the most difficult to treat with liposuction alone is the inner thigh. The skin here is looser and the fat is divided into superficial and deep compartments. After liposuction the skin may not tighten up as much as it normally would especially if liposuction is only done in the deep compartments. If the skin doesn’t shrink what happens is that it sags even more with several layers of sagging skin rather than one or two.
In that case an inner thigh lift solves the problem. So how is that done? Here at Advanced Concepts in Plastic Surgery we start with liposuction. After liposuction an incision is made in the groin crease and skin is removed. Usually several inches can be removed. After surgery the scar winds up at the leg crease where a leg attaches to the trunk. This tightens up the inner leg skin and makes the inner thigh smoother and less wrinkled. Unfortunately the lift only tightens up the upper half of the thigh. Usually this is the only part that needs tightening.
This inner thigh lift works for most women. However if a woman is heavier or has lost a lot of weight a different type of thigh lift is needed. Rather than a short scar in the leg crease, a vertical scar has to be used to take up all the extra skin. This is usually combined with Vaser liposuction and debulking of the leg. Then a vertical incision is taken from and up through the groin crease. By taking back vertically and then up toward the hip the most amount of skin can be removed. This makes the whole leg smaller, something that liposuction alone could never do.
Thigh lifts have not been a particularly common operation in the past. They have become much more common recently and can achieve results that no other procedure could accomplish.
