A medial thigh lift, also known as an inner thigh lift, involves the excision of excess skin and removal of fat. Particularly for people after massive weight loss or those with older skin, the inner thigh skin droops. This can be a problem of just skin, or skin and fat.
This fullness and sagging skin does not respond to diet and exercise. Unfortunately, you cannot “tone it up,” as skin is not a muscle.
If your issue is just fat, and the skin tone is still okay, then I strongly recommend liposuction. This will give you a good contour with minimal scar.
If your issue is the anterior thigh, sometimes this is an issue because of the loose skin on the abdomen. An abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) does a fair amount to tighten the upper thigh skin, and it corrects the issues of the abdominal skin and muscle as well. If you need both, you cannot do a thigh lift at the time of tummy tuck, and I will always recommend the tummy tuck first. When doing this, I have found few people feel the need to continue to the thigh lift. (Again, usually those with major weight loss – 75 pounds or more- would be in the group who still need a thigh lift.)
When the issue is truly one of loose skin as well, then you need to cut out skin, which is where the thigh lift comes in.
"As with all surgeries, my question to you is what is your goal?" - Dr. Greenberg*Individual results may vary
When you have a lot of excess skin, with or without fat, you need to cut out skin to tighten the area.
There are two basic scars:
I strongly prefer the one confined to the groin crease. If your goal is to wear a bathing suit or shorts, you don’t want to see a scar running along your inner thigh. This is a tougher surgery to heal, and the scars in the groin crease take longer to heal. It is a high motion, moist, dirtier area.
As with all surgeries, my question to you is what is your goal?
Is it to wear a bathing suit? shorts? or just look good in pants? As I have stated, this is not an easy surgery to heal from and the scar can vary in how it looks. I tend to find the tradeoff is not worth it for most women who have the typical older, aging skin issue. I do think it is worth it for many women after major weight loss, particularly when it is hard to find pants that fit, or you won’t wear shorts or bathing suits because of how it looks.
You need to decide the tradeoff of loose skin versus a scar. I will walk you through this decision process during your consultation.