Obesity is unfortunately a very important problem of the developed world and our way of life. It is considered the great public health challenge of the 21st century. Its incidence has tripled since the 1980s and it seems that the younger generation will be affected even more.
Obesity as a medical problem is considered to be associated with 10% of deaths in different regions of Europe. Greece is one of the countries where the problem of obesity has reached endemic proportions. According to data collected within the framework of the European Medicine and Society Cooperation Program, it has been found that:
30% of Greek women are obese (1st place in Europe), 30% of Greek men are obese (2nd place in Europe), 26% of boys and 19% of girls aged 6–17 are overweight.
In the context of dealing with obesity, nutritionists, trainers and psychologists, as well as surgeons who deal with the problem of morbid obesity, come to help us. Bariatric surgery is aimed at patients with morbid obesity and includes operations such as the placement of an adjustable gastric band, laparoscopic elongated gastrectomy, gastric bypass and other operations that either limit the person’s ability to take in food or limit the absorption of food. of food nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract.
Regardless of how the patient managed to achieve their weight loss goal, the loss of many pounds is often accompanied by sagging skin. So while the patient has greatly improved his health and appearance in terms of obesity, he now faces a new problem. Due to the sagging, the appearance of many parts of the body is far from what it should be and the reason is that the skin, having lost its elasticity, does not have the ability to “collect” and as a result there is excess skin that cannot treated with non-surgical methods.
The role of plastic surgery in these cases is very essential as there is no other way to deal with this problem. Most commonly, sagging occurs in the chest, arms, abdomen, thighs and buttocks. The operations that address the problems are breast lift, buttock and thigh lift, brachioplasty, liposuction, abdominoplasty, as well as others depending on the areas where the problems are located. Information about each operation can be found in the individual chapters.
In general, as far as these patients are concerned, more than 1 operation is usually needed, which are done in stages with an interval of at least 6 months between them. Often we can combine some operations, for example breast lifting with brachioplasty or buttock lifting with liposuction.
In the initial meeting with the doctor, the extent of the problem will be assessed and a surgical plan will be decided together. In general, the closer the patient is to the ideal weight, the better and more permanent the results of the operations. These patients often present special problems, e.g. sugar, digestion and absorption problems, hormonal disorders, etc., which need special treatment. All these will be examined in detail before the operation.
Our practice permanently collaborates with a nutritionist, whose contribution is irreplaceable in dealing with the problems of these patients. Obesity is unfortunately a disease that affects a large part of the population.
Each patient is unique in his needs and in our practice there is an intense effort to address these needs not only scientifically but also with friendliness and understanding.