Many people want to lose weight, and it feels like a major accomplishment after you reach your goal weight. While you often look and feel drastically different after weight loss, it can have some unintended effects as well. Anytime you lose a significant amount of weight, it can affect the elasticity and appearance of your skin. Oftentimes, these changes will be most visible in your face and neck region with facial sagging and hallowing.
How Weight Loss Affects Your Facial Appearance
Numerous studies have shown that massive weight loss has a significant impact on facial volume, causing many changes that resemble aging – even in younger patients. Following a major weight loss, it’s common to experience changes such as:
- Deeper nasolabial folds (smile lines).
- Sunken or flattened cheek appearance.
- Looser neck skin.
- Increased facial wrinkles.
- Loss of facial fat around the temples and under the eyes.
Weight loss has these drastic effects because the skin loses its underlying support, causing it to look deflated or sunken. Because the skin was stretched for a long period of time, it loses much of its elasticity and can no longer contour to your body and face the way it did before.
Weight loss can greatly improve your physical health by lowering your blood pressure, improving your cholesterol, and reducing your risk for cardiovascular disease. In many cases, losing weight also improves your physiological well being and can boost your confidence.
However, when losing weight drastically alters your facial appearance, it can have a serious impact on your self image. Research shows that despite reaching their goal, weight loss patients are often unhappy with their new appearance and may feel just as uncomfortable as they did when overweight.
Unfortunately, it’s not always possible for skin to naturally regain its elasticity and appearance after weight loss. For that reason, facial plastic surgery after weight loss is a great option for many people with massive weight loss. Surgery can be extremely impactful for people dealing with mid face volume loss and other issues.
Case Study: Tania’s Story
When Tania lost a significant amount of weight, she experienced issues such as a hollow midface, loose neck skin, and a recessed chin appearance. Dr. Gallo created a custom plan to rejuvenate her face and restore her youthful appearance using carefully-placed incisions and his signature face lift techniques. This included:
- Strategic lifting of her facial tissues.
- Muscle tightening procedures for an enhanced neck contour.
- A small chin implant to create more balanced facial proportions.
- Strategic fat transfers to restore midfacial volume.
Carefully-placed incisions in the hairline, ear, around the earlobe, and behind the ear were used to lift all the tissues and tighten the muscles to improve her face and neck contours. This approach gave Tania a natural-looking rejuvenation that addressed all of her loose facial skin and gave more balance to her new appearance. Read more about Tania’s story and see before and after photos on our Instagram page.
Facial Plastic Surgery Options After Weight Loss
As in Tania’s story, procedures such as chin implants and facial fat transfers are common approaches to deal with facial changes after weight loss. While fat transfers may seem counterintuitive after weight loss, they’re actually incredibly helpful for restoring a naturally youthful appearance. Filling in sagging skin with fat from other areas of the body creates more balance and also helps address signs of aging and loose skin that become more apparent after weight loss.
People with cheek volume loss may also be good candidates for cheek implants after weight loss. Cheek implant procedures help address flattened cheeks and facial hollows, which are common to see after weight loss. As another benefit, implants can improve the look of under-eye bags and wrinkles as well.
Depending on your individual needs, you may also opt for non-surgical procedures to enhance your results even further. Many patients get the best results through facial surgery in combination with fillers and other procedures.
Understanding all the factors that alter your facial appearance after weight loss requires a comprehensive approach. While many people seek body-contouring plastic surgery after weight loss, it’s best to seek out a facial plastic surgeon if you’re dealing with loose facial skin.
Dr. Gallo has years of experience as a facial plastic surgeon and is skilled at creating balanced, natural-looking rejuvenation plans. If you’re ready to learn more about your options, schedule a consultation for a personalized assessment.
