Real Patient Results How much does it cost? Book a Consultation Read our FAQs
Woollahra Sydney . Wollongong NSW
Why Patients Might Consider Upper Body Torsoplasty Surgery
Typically, a patient may seek the procedure if they wish to:
- Target excess skin on multiple areas of the upper body
- Undergo a procedure that addresses their entire circumference – front, back, and sides
- Reduce skin on the upper arms, back, and breasts
- Complete their weight loss efforts with surgical skin removal
Patient Suitability for Upper Body Lift (Torsoplasty) Surgery?
This surgery is often for patients who have undergone massive weight loss and are left with excess skin in the upper back, arm, underarm, and chest region.
But not everyone who loses weight needs one. You’re a candidate for body lift torsoplasty surgery if:
- You’ve lost massive weight in a short time (usually more than 50% of the excess body weight)
- You have excess skin and fat in the underarm area
- You have lax under arm skin
- You have fat deposits on your upper back
- You have laxity in the breasts/chest
- You’re finished losing weight
- You’re willing to quit smoking at least 4 weeks before your procedure
- You have a generally good health
If you meet these criteria, then an Upper Body Lift Torsoplasty might be a option to tighten your body after losing weight.
An Upper Torsoplasty can still be performed even if you don’t need to lift all of the usual target body areas. For example, if you don’t have lax arm skin, an Upper Body Lift can still be performed without tightening the arms.
How Is Upper Body Lift (Torsoplasty) Surgery Performed?
Torsoplasty combines back lift lipectomy, underarm surgery, breast lift mastopexy, arm lift brachioplasty, and liposuction. The procedure is done under general anaesthesia. This means that you will be asleep during the surgery. Total procedure time can take anywhere between 3 and 6 hours. It is a major procedure, as it involves extensive fat and skin removal. Once you’re asleep, Dr Hunt will start the surgery. Torsoplasty can involve these seperate procedures:
Upper
Back Lift
An upper back lift (also called bra line back lift) gets rid of the extra skin on the upper back. Dr Hunt starts by performing a long horizontal incision on your back, starting under one shoulder blade and extending to the other.
He then separates the skin from deeper tissue and cuts out the excess back skin rolls. After that, he will pull the two edges of the wound together. The wound is closed with sutures along the back bra line.
Underarm
Tightening
The back wound can sometimes be extended to allow Dr Hunt to address the underarm area and get rid of fat in the axilla. Other times, an extra incision has to be made in the armpit.
In underarm tightening surgery, Dr Hunt will pull the skin upward, cut out the lax skin and then bring the two edges of the wound together. He will pull them tight with sutures, aiming to reduce any irregularities.
Arm Lift
(Brachioplasty)
Surgery to tighten the arms can be an important part of an upper torsoplasty. It allows Dr Hunt to get rid of lax upper arm skin. Dr Hunt starts with a long incision along the inner surface of the arm. He will then cut out the lax arm skin and any extra fat.
Finally, Dr Hunt brings the two wound edges together and secures the incision closed.
Recovery after Upper Body Lift (Torsoplasty) Surgery
After the procedure, expect to spend 2 to 3 days at the hospital for monitoring. You might have several surgical drains coming out from your wounds to prevent internal fluid collection.
Recovery after a full upper body torsoplasty can be somewhat challenging. A lot of tissue removal is involved, and you will have multiple wounds to take care of – breast wounds, arm wounds, back wounds, and armpit wounds.
Complete recovery can take as long as 6-10 weeks. You should stay home and rest for at least 2-3 weeks. Light walking is recommended during this period to prevent blood clot formation. You can do light chores that do not involve excessive arm and upper body movement. Additionally, driving is not recommended during the first two weeks, as it can cause pain in the arms, back, and breasts.
In general, pain, swelling, and bruising will peak by the end of the first week after an upper torsoplasty. The recovery symptoms should then gradually improve over the course of the following month.
Potential risks and complications
Like any other procedure, some risks and complications are involved in upper torsoplasty. They occur rarely, and might include:
- Seroma formation – fluid build-up in the wounds
- Haematoma – blood build up in the wound
- Loss of sensation or numbness around the wounds
- Wound infection
- Problems with wound healing (e.g. poor healing or excessive scarring)
- Inner organ trauma (due to liposuction)
If you want to minimise your risks of complications after an upper torsoplasty, then you should choose an experienced plastic surgeon to perform the operation. Dr Hunt has performed hundreds of body lift surgeries over the years in Sydney and New South Wales. He has developed his own lifting techniques to maximise results and minimise risks for patients.
