Thigh lift for cellulite and skin tightening

Thigh lift surgery, skin tightening and cellulite

We are pleased to share our experience in cellulite and skin tightening, from our clinic in London with everyone in the world. Check all our articles here. And if you do live in London, feel free to book an assessment, consultation or treatment with us here.

• What is best, non-surgical thigh skin tightening or thigh lift surgery?

• How does thigh lift surgery work and does it also get rid of cellulite?

• Skin quality remains unaffected after thigh tuck surgery

• Second thigh lift surgery 10 years after?

• What to do about loose skin

• Check our professional consultancy, for a masterclass in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

What is best, non-surgical thigh skin tightening or thigh lift surgery?

Most people don’t like surgery and if they suffer from skin looseness - on their thighs or any other body area - they would quite rightly prefer to have a course of non-surgical treatments instead.

• Non-surgical treatments are great - and in fact the only option - for mild or medium skin laxity / sagginess

• However, for extreme skin laxity and sagginess the only option that makes sense is thigh lift surgery. Extremely loose and saggy skin on the thigh area can be fixed (well, kinda, more on that later) with thigh lift surgery, also known as ‘thigh tuck’.

(Thigh lift surgery also goes under the ridiculous name of ‘thighplasty’. I would like to know who in their right mind coined that term…)

How does thigh lift surgery work and does it also get rid of cellulite?

With thigh lift surgery, skin around the top of the thigh is cut with the two ends stitched back together.

This removes the excess skin that causes the sagginess but of course it leaves behind a usually ugly and pronounced scar. Occasionally, though, the scar can be quite subtle, especially after fading away over several years.

Obviously cellulite is not removed after thigh lift surgery, as the skin itself is not treated.

So a course of 6-12 cellulite treatments are needed to reduce cellulite after thigh lift surgery, starting from the 8th week after surgery onwards.

Deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and/or deep acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the most effective SAFE technologies for cellulite reduction.

Skin quality remains unaffected after thigh tuck surgery

But most importantly, skin quality is not improved by thighplasty.

Elasticity and firmness, equivalent to collagen levels and elastin levels in the skin, respectively, remain totally unaffected by surgery.

Of course, due to stretching by the surgery (just like a facelift) skin looks firm and smooth for 2-3 years, after which time skin thinness / cellulite become evident again.

In that case, an effective skin tightening treatment (just deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency, not ultrasound needed for skin tightening) is ideal.

Second thigh lift surgery 10 years after?

Obviously, there is always the option of a second thigh lift surgery, which is what one of our recent clients did, 10 years after her first.

In her case, over the years her thigh skin became loose again, very spongy (as we said, thigh lift surgery does not treat the skin, it just stretches it, like a facelift stretches the face) and developed quite a lot of cellulite.

But most curiously, over the years following her surgery, the (darker) area around her crotch was pulled down by the whiter and initially tight-as-a-drum thigh skin!

This meant that her thighs below the bikini line had two different colours: darker higher up and whiter lower down, with a visible scar in the middle to separate the two layers.

Not a great look…

What to do about loose skin

• Stay active and do not put on weight, if possible, to avoid your skin getting too loose

• If skin does become loose, have some deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency treatments to tighten it up

• If skin develops cellulite, have some deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and/or high-power ultrasound cavitation treatments to tighten and smoothen it up

• If you neglect your skin for too long and it does become EXTREMELY loose, don’t even think of non-surgical treatments, of any kind, they won’t do much. Have a thigh lift surgery instead.

• Just ask your surgeon to not make your thighs excessively tight, to avoid pulling the crotch skin down

• Two-three years after surgery, if skin becomes looser again, follow with a few skin tightening / cellulite reduction treatments, to prevent further deterioration and to avoid a second surgery. The combination of deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and deep acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation treatments (which treats both cellulite and skin laxity) is ideal.

• And if you don’t take care of your skin (as in exercise, healthy eating, perhaps some skin tightening treatments) be prepared for a second thigh lift operation. Just like liposuction, a thigh lift is not (always) forever.

Check our professional consultancy, for a masterclass in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening? Attend a half-day, 1-day or 2-day or 3-day professional consultancy / one-to-one training and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible. Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.