"Extreme Makeover" Cosmetic Surgery

In this Age of Obesity, more and more people are opting for multiple cosmetic surgery procedures in one sitting.

These so-called "extreme makeovers," which take their name from recent TV shows about plastic surgery, provide a number of benefits to the patient. These include the fact that they are customized to each individua's health situation, total surgical time is shorter, fewer incisions are needed, the overall cost is lowered, and there is only a single recovery period instead of several.

With bariatric surgery, or stomach stapling, increasingly common in today’s America, the resulting dramatic and rapid weight loss can produce embarrassing folds of hanging skin that once were taut over rolls of fat. Patients now flock to cosmetic surgeons to deal with this excess skin. And the merely overweight are eager to have fat removed under the surgeon’s knife.

In addition, many of these patients are looking to improve their appearance in a variety of other ways – beautifying everything from eyes to lips to breasts to ankles. Some examples of “extreme makeover” plastic surgery combinations include:

-- 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.

The recovery time needed after an extreme makeover is longer than that necessary for a single-issue cosmetic surgery. But if a patient is able to block out the time for that recovery, he or she will have saved money on the surgical procedure, anesthesia costs, facility fees and possibly other expenses as well, such as those for professional nursing assistance during recovery.