Adam R. Kolker, M.D., F.A.C.S., P.C. AESTHETIC AND RECONSTRUCTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY | BOARD CERTIFIED

PLANNING

During your initial consultation with Dr. Kolker, he will thoroughly discuss your desires and expectations for your thigh lift. After a careful discussion of your weight loss and health history, he will conduct a thorough examination of the skin, soft tissue and muscles of your thighs, legs, and torso, and their relationship to the rest of your body. He will carefully review the thigh lift procedure, or combination of procedures, that suit you best. When the excess is limited to the inner thigh only, a medial thigh lift (inner thigh lift) will be considered.  When the excess skin and fat involves not just the medial or inner thigh but the lower thigh closer to the knee, the fronts and sides of the thighs, and the area beneath the buttocks, a circumferential thigh lift, or an extended medial thigh lift, may be recommended.  The thigh lift procedure that best suits your needs will be carefully customized, using the most appropriate combination of techniques. As women and men who have lost considerable weight will often have areas other than the thighs that concern them, such as excess skin or fat of the abdomen flanks and back, breast droop, arm laxity, and facial and neck laxity, Dr. Kolker will determine the best sequence of procedures with you, as well as the possibility of a combination of procedures.  Dr. Kolker will answer all questions that you might have regarding any step of the process. .

PROCEDURE

The medial thigh lift or inner thigh lift procedure is performed with incisions limited to the groin creases. Excess fat is removed with liposuction, and the excess skin is trimmed and re-draped. The circumferential thigh lift or extended medial thigh lift procedure is performed with incisions within the groin creases, and then progressing completely around the lower body and into the area beneath the inner aspect of the buttock creases. Excess skin and fat are removed directly, and liposuction is performed to remove fat further away from the incision lines.  Incision lines are kept largely within the “bathing suit” zone.  This is an extremely effective technique that Dr. Kolker uses to dramatically lift not only the excess of the inner thigh, but the entire thigh including the front (anterior thigh lift), the sides (lateral thigh lift), and back (posterior thigh lift).  A buttock lift is also achieved with this procedure.  In instances where there is tremendous excess of the inner thighs with circumferential thigh tissue excess to the knees, a vertical incision from the inner groin crease area down to the inner knee may be added (although this is performed less commonly due to the effectiveness of the circumferential thigh lift with incisions confined to the “bathing suit” zone). The medial thigh lift procedure takes between three and four hours, and is performed in either Dr. Kolker’s office-based surgical suite (accredited by the American Association for the Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, AAAASF), or in the hospital should you prefer.  The procedure takes between four and eight hours. The circumferential thigh lift or extended medial thigh lift in New York is performed in hospital at the Mount Sinai Medical Center with one overnight stay for monitoring and nursing care.  In rare circumstances, patients will elect to spend two nights after a circumferential thigh lift.

RECOVERY

Following your medial thigh lift procedure, you will go home the same day with a friend or family member.  After a circumferential or an extended medial thigh lift procedure, you will go home the following day with a friend or family member. Dr. Kolker suggests taking one to two weeks (for medial thigh lift) or two to three weeks (for circumferential thigh lift) for recovery when feasible, although it is indeed possible to return to work or school as early as 10 to 14 days after your thigh lift (provided there is no strenuous activity involved).  Small drain tubes are placed during your thigh lift, and most often these will be removed between the fifth and seventh day. With few exceptions, all sutures are dissolvable, and no suture removal in necessary. Light aerobic activity (elliptical or Precor, light treadmill walking) may be resumed as early as ten to fourteen days following thigh lift, and more strenuous activity is begun at three weeks (excluding stationary or road bicycling, or any activity that may chafe or irritate the inner thigh area). The final shape and feel is reached approximately three months after thigh lift.  Your relationship with Dr. Kolker does not end after thigh lift surgery; he will see you often through the first weeks and months following your thigh lift, and will advise you on all matters in your recovery including exercise, activity, and diet. 

RELATED PROCEDURES

While circumferential thigh lift surgery is most often performed as an isolated procedure, a medial thigh lift may be performed with other procedures.  For those individuals who desire additional plastic surgery enhancements, thigh lift may be combined with breast augmentation, breast lift (mastopexy), breast augmentation and lift (augmentation mastopexy), arm lift (brachioplasty)liposuction, and facial rejuvenation procedures in selected cases. Given the length of the circumferential thigh lift surgery, however, in only rare cases will this extended thigh lift be combined with other procedures.  Other procedures geared towards treating the excesses associated with massive weight loss, such as lower body lift, arm lift (brachioplasty), breast lift (mastopexy), breast augmentation and lift (augmentation mastopexy), and face lift can be performed before or after the thigh lift procedure, usually staged by 8 to twelve weeks.
If you would like to learn more about having a thigh lift in New York, and about the thigh lift techniques that will suit you best, we invite you to meet with Dr. Kolker for a private consultation at our office, located at Park Avenue and 70th Street, by calling 212-744-6500, or by scheduling an appointment online.