Will Loose Skin Ever Tighten

The backwash of weight loss is often expected and welcomed: higher energy levels, smaller pants, and a more defined body. Simply there is one unexpected challenge: tightening your peel after losing weight. This unwanted alter can be uncomfortable, frustrating, and leave yous confused nearly what to do side by side.

Here's how to tighten your skin while losing weight, keep it tight, and find out what causes skin to stretch in the first place.

Why does loose skin later weight loss happen?

According to Jordan Jacobs, K.D., an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Mount Sinai Infirmary in New York, loose peel is unremarkably caused by the post-obit:

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Rapid weight loss

Usually seen in people who undergo bariatric surgery for massive weight loss (more 100 pounds), nearly lxx percentage of people who undergo the procedure are left with excess peel, some studies find. "Losing weight rapidly doesn't requite our skin adequate time to gradually contract and this results in loose, hanging peel," says Dr. Jacobs.

And then who can wait loose pare after weight loss? While it varies, mild weight loss (think: 20 pounds or less) typically doesn't pb to excess peel, Zuckerman says. Weight loss of twoscore to 50 pounds tin seem equally massive as a weight loss of 100+ pounds.

Gradual weight gain

But loose skin post-weight loss is also a product of the weight gain itself. "Skin has a finite elasticity, and if pushed beyond the limit of that elasticity upon weight gain, the skin cannot fully contract back downward upon subsequent weight loss," explains Joshua Zuckerman, M.D., surgical director at New York City-based Zuckerman Plastic Surgery.

Aging peel

Also: It's not simply how much weight you lose, merely your age and pare quality that determines whether or non you'll experience loose skin after weight loss, he says. "Younger patients have a better chance at avoiding excess pare as do those with inherently high pare elasticity." (As you age, the elastic fibers and collagen molecules that requite your skin its compactness lose their strength.)

Men also tend to do amend in their artillery and legs than women do, notes Jeffrey M. Kenkel, G.D., a professor and chair of the Betty and Warren Woodward Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Eye.

How can y'all get rid of loose skin after weight loss?

According to Dr. Jacobs, here are some options for tightening your skin after weight loss:

Surgical removal

"Typically speaking, after bariatric surgery or massive weight loss, plastic surgery is required to remove backlog peel," says Zuckerman. "These plastic surgery procedures are very effective and typically involve cutting away backlog skin and lifting or reshaping the remaining tissue."

Liposuction

On top of surgical excision, options include liposuction (which uses a suction technique to remove fat, and, for patients with balmy pare (and fat) excess, non-invasive procedures usually in the grade of ultrasound or radiofrequency procedures that heat upward the peel and crusade contraction by triggering collagen product, explains Jacobs. You lot might have micro-needling with radio frequency energy done, for example, which makes thousands of tiny punctures in your skin and delivers radiofrequency energy during treatment, explains Zuckerman.

Body contouring

Patients tin also turn to contouring procedures such as BodyTite and FaceTite (which can be used in conjunction with liposuction) to remove fat and tighten skin, but for all but mild cases of excess peel, these treatments may not fully accost the problem, he notes.

Slower weight loss

While information technology's non always an choice (especially for those who have bariatric surgery done), gradual weight loss seems to exist the best though for preventing loose skin in the starting time identify, notes Jacobs.

Exercise

Edifice muscle—by fashion of a solid exercise regimen with force training piece of work—is always a good idea. Plus, it tin can make your skin look tauter, says Holly Wyatt, One thousand.D., professor of medicine at the University of Colorado.

In brusk, surgical excision (though it comes with a longer recovery) remains the gold standard, says Jacobs (and produces "profound" effects) and the results from the more minimally-invasive treatments are what you would look: subtle, he says.

Can loose skin afterwards weight loss get away on its own?

Non really, docs say—though call up, how much excess peel you're left with and how well your peel responds to weight loss in the first place depends on everything from age and genetics to how much weight you lost and your pare quality. Then, depending on your circumstance, you might be able to expect some changes.

"Patients who may run into improvement in their loose skin are those who exercise non have stretch marks and younger patients who however have reasonable peel quality despite weight gain," says Kenkel. "The quality of the skin is the key to improvement."

Jacobs also suggests that if you've lost weight gradually to requite your peel a total year to contract once you've reached your goal weight. "After this time, you are non going to run across any more than noticeable tightening."

Then, if you take loose skin you're concerned about—or if you lot take loose skin after bariatric surgery—practise your homework and go in touch with a plastic surgeon certified past the American Board of Plastic Surgery to acquire nigh your options, suggests Jacobs. "There are a lot of physicians that characterization themselves as 'plastic surgeons' and, as long as they have a valid medical license, they tin can legally perform any procedure," he says. "Only the American Lath of Plastic Surgery denotes the proper training."

What is the best domicile remedy to tighten your pare?

Besides the non-invasive and minimally-invasive options out there that are somewhat constructive, (merely, over again, commonly simply for those with mild cases) there's no magic skin tightening cream or exercise that's going to tighten loose skin afterward weight loss on its own. That's what makes backlog skin a difficult problem for those with more than moderate cases, says Zuckerman.

Rubbing cocoa butter on your skin might sound like a good idea, but while many topical products claim to tighten pare, doctors are skeptical. "In that location are no efficacious topical products or OTC remedies for excess skin," says Zuckerman. Jacobs adds that whatever product you're going to buy for this upshot unremarkably will have subtle results at best.

The all-time dwelling remedy, so? "Taking intendance of your skin," says Jacobs. "This includes sun protection, avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, and eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in sugar and saturated fats."