Thign lift

Who needs it?

Skin elasticity diminishes considerably following a great weight loss, a pregnancy, or aging process. An excessive amount of loosened skin may occur inside the thighs. The skin slackening together with extra padding may cause some cosmetic embarrassment, say even functional embarrassment (nuisance when walking, friction, irritation, maceration) : under the circumstances you may choose to undergo a thigh lifting.

Aims

Crural lifting, also called cruroplasty, or even internal face lifting of the thigh, consists in putting the skin of the thighs under pressure once it is relaxed, very often associated with a liposuction in case there a residual extra padding.

Before the operation

Your medical examinations

Between one week and a month prior to the operation, you must make an appointment with a medical test laboratory in order to go through a full pre-surgical check-up. The test results must be sent to us (by fax, or e-mail), so that they can be examined by our anesthesist doctor. Depending on your test results, other tests may be requested. If you do not have the possibility to have the tests before your departure, it is always possible to take them on the spot, one day before your operation. You must also know that if there is contra-indication, the anesthetist doctor will have the right to reschedule or cancel the operation. You should in no circumstances take a medication containing aspirin at least 10 days before the operation. You should also advise on any medication you may have taken. It is essential that you refrain from eating, drinking or smoking 8 hours before the operation.

Your luggage: As far as your luggage is concerned, you must remember to bring loose and comfortable clothing with you.

Getting ready for the operation:

You will be taken to your clinic the night of the operation, the time to get settled in your room, to take a shower if needed and to meet with the medical team: your surgeon, the anesthetist doctor, and all the health care staff. The operation takes place the following morning.  Very often, the night before the operation, the nurses will give you a kind of pre-medication in the form of a light tranquilizer to make sure that slightly anxious patients to face the operation with more fortitude.

Type of anesthesia

Thigh lifting is carried out under full anesthesia.

Duration of your hospital stay

3 nights.

Duration of total stay in Tunisia

6 nights/7 days.

Operation

Performing a lifting of the thighs varies according to the quantity of skin to be removed; At times, all we need is to remove a part of the skin of the inside and the front part of the thighs. The surgeon will then perform an incision that runs from the fold of the groin to the furrow of the bums. This operation leaves a scar under the bathing suit.

If you have considerable extra skin, the surgeon may opt for a thigh lifting during which he /she removes skin and the under skin tissue along the thigh. This operation will leave a vertical scar at the level of the lower rear part of the thighs. This kind of thigh lifting can also correct skin inequalities such as cellulites.

Duration of the operation

The operation of a thigh lifting lasts 1 hour 30 minutes.

Post surgery

After the operation, observation takes place in the waking room, then in your room. A compressing panty is to be applied and will be kept in place day and night. The operation is not very painful. Analgesics will be taken to kill any pain.

Surgical aftereffects

During the first 4 weeks following the operation, you must wear a special panty. This panty will support the skin and the scar. At first you may face difficulties when performing certain actions, like walking or sitting down. It is recommended that you should avoid performing heavy duties during the first 8 weeks.

The scars of a thigh lifting fade away after one year.

Results

Definitive results of the surgery can only be appreciated six to twelve months after the operation. Very often, we notice a significant correction of fat infiltration and skin slackening, something that leads to a significant improvement of the shape of a thigh.

The scars are usually very discreet, in as much as they are hidden under a natural fold.

Complications

A lifting of the inner face of the thighs, though initiated by purely cosmetic reasons, remains nonetheless a veritable surgical operation, which implies risks and hazards related to any medical act of the sort, no matter how minor it may be.

One must distinguish anesthesia related complications from complications related to the surgical act.
As far as anesthesia is concerned, during the medical examination the anesthetist doctor informs the patient of the risks involved in anesthesia. It must be known that anesthesia  sometimes provokes unpredictable reactions in the human system that are sometime more or less difficult to get under control: the fact of confiding to an anesthetist doctor with great skills and exercising in a really surgical situation reduces the hazards to almost none, statistically negligible. Indeed, one must know that the techniques, the anesthetic products and the observation methods have been greatly improved in the last 20 years, offering thus the maximum security, especially if the operation is conducted outside the emergency unit and over a person in good health.

As far as the surgical side is concerned, choosing one of our cosmetic surgeons will minimize the risks to the maximum, but without eliminating them completely.

Indeed, complications may occur on the abatement of an internal face lifting of thighs:

Thrombi-embolic accidents (phlebitis, lung emboli), although in general quite rare after this kind of operation, they are among the most dreadful. Preemptive and rigorous measures minimize their occurrences: wearing anti-thrombosis stockings, waking up early and having an anti-coagulating treatment.

Cases of hematomas, very rare indeed, may account for an evacuation so that there is no risk of altering in a secondary fashion the cosmetic quality of the result.

Cases of infections find a favorable ground because of natural orifices being very close to each other: their treatment requires a surgical drainage and a course of antibiotics.

Starting from the eighth day after the operation the occurrence of extravasations related to a lymphoid outpouring: such pouring must at times be punctured and it will dry up generally without any particular sequel.

A skin necrosis is in fact very rare to occur: In a general rule, it will be limited and well localized. The avoidance of such necroses depends on an indication which is well put in place and also the achievement of a technical move that is well suited and prudent.
Changes in sensitivity, namely in the diminishing sensitivity of the upper part of the internal face of the thigh may be noticed: normal sensitivity reappears most often within a period of 3 to 6 months at the abatement of the operation.

Work interruption

There is no need for interrupting the work: the recovery stay spent in Tunisia following the operation is very beneficial and enables most of our patients to resume their professional activities as soon as they return home.

Fees

The fees of a thigh lifting are 2000 euros.