Prevalence and Desire for Body Contouring Surgery in Postbariatric Patients in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Morbid obesity has become a common problem worldwide and as a result the demand for bariatric surgery has increased as well. Most patients develop skin redundancy and sagging at many body parts after major weight loss procedures which increased the demand for body contouring procedures. AIMS: The study was to address the prevalence and patient's desire for body contouring procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study targeting the postbariatric patients from April 2011 to October 2011 was conducted at our hospital. Questionnaire was administered in order to measure frequency and patients desire to undergo body contouring surgery after massive weight loss. RESULTS: The total number of patients was 128 patients. The mean age of our patients was 37-year old (range 18-56 year). The percentage of the desire for body contouring surgery after bariatric surgery was 78.1%. There was very pronounced desire to body contouring surgery after those who underwent gastric bypass surgery with P-value 0.001. Only 18 patients (14%) have underwent body contouring surgery, with a total of 29 procedures, in which abdominoplasty considered the most commonly procedure performed (57%). CONCLUSION: With the increasing number of weight loss surgery, there is higher number of patients that desire a body contouring surgery, which create huge disparity between demand and accessibility.