What Is the Impact of Residual Obesity on the Risk for Postoperative Body-Contouring Surgery Complications in Postbariatric Patients?

Background: There are an increasing number of patients presenting for plastic surgery after massive weight loss, and many of these patients have residual obesity that may compromise outcomes. The impact of residual obesity on the development of postoperative complications in postbariatric patients undergoing plastic surgery procedures is unclear.

Methods: We report the outcomes of 207 patients who underwent plastic surgery following RYGB from January 2011 to December 2018.

Results: Two hundred and seven patients (196 females, 11 males) with a mean age of 42 years underwent 335 separate operations. The average BMI at the time of plastic surgery was 27.43 kg/m. The average weight loss was 47.08 kg. The prevalence of comorbidities was 26.6% and the most important presurgery comorbidities were arterial hypertension (10.1%) and diabetes mellitus (4.8%). Of the 207 patients who underwent surgery, 78.3% (168/207) underwent abdominoplasty and 45.0% underwent mammoplasty. The overall rate of complications was 27.5%. The prevalence of postoperative complications was not significantly different between patients with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m and patients with a BMI < 30 kg/m (33.3% vs 25.9%, respectively; p = 0.344).

Conclusion: In this group of patients, with specified anthropometric and clinical profiles, the residual obesity did not influence the incidence of postoperative complications in postbariatric patients after plastic surgery.