Plastic surgery is one of the marvels of modern medicine, with a wide range of options for face and body improvements. And today’s media outlets make it easier than ever before to gather information on the latest plastic surgery procedures. But how does this information apply to you and your concerns?
Every person is unique and has his or her own desires. What procedure or combination of treatments is right for you? And what can you really expect? EXPLORE PLASTIC SURGERY with Dr. Barry Eppley, Indianapolis plastic surgeon, who can provide you with a wealth of practical and up-to-date insights into the world of plastic surgery through his regular blog posts. In his writings, Dr. Eppley covers diverse topics on facial and body contouring procedures. You will be sure to find useful information that will help broaden and enrich your plastic surgery education.
Since the advent of bariatric surgery and the rise in the number of such procedures every year, a traditional body contouring plastic surgery procedure is undergoing a change. That procedure is the abdominal panniculectomy…or the cutting off of one’s overhanging pannus.
Panniculectomy surgery is a reconstructive procedure performed to remove a panniculus, sometimes referred to as a pannus or overhanging abdominal apron. The pannus frequently contributes to a number of health problems, including chronic wounds and skin infections due to the moisture underneath the skin folds.
In the recent past, prior to weight loss from bariatric surgery, an abdominal pannus was quite large (as was the patient) and quite hefty in weight. Many of these pannuses would hang at least down to the middle of the thighs and often to the knees. I have seen a few that hung well below the knee and one that hung down and rested on the floor. My personal ‘record’ for an abdominal panniculectomy was a patient who weighted 715 pounds and a pannus that weighed 96 lbs. Removing these large pannuses required some clever intraoperative methods to hoost them up (known as the ‘china wall’) just to get underneath it to do the cutting. Because of the magnitude of the abdominal wall resection, wound complications after large abdominal panniculectomies were the norm with fluid build-ups and problems with healing of the incision.
While removal of a massive abdominal pannus solved a few health problems for the very obese patient, it did little for their general well-being or improve longevity. Along came bariatric surgery and we have seen a fortunate change in the large abdominal pannus patient. As bariatric surgery has helped patients lose a lot of weight, so has the size of abdominal pannuses decreased. Most abdominal pannuses that I see today are in the bariatric surgery patient or someone that has lost over 100m lbs. on their own.
These sizes of abdominal pannuses are much more manageable, have fewer complications after their removal, and the patients are overall much healthier. The typical pannus that is removed today, often part of a circumferential lower body lift, weighs 10 lbs. or less. Such abdominal pannuses are a welcome sight from those large ones in the past.
Dr. Barry Eppley
http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis
Tags: abdominal panniculectomy, bariatric surgery, dr barry eppley, indianapolis, massive weight loss
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