Correcting saddlebag deformity in massive weight loss patient described.

2004 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers describe procedures for correcting the saddlebag deformity in massive weight loss patients in a recent issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

According to a study from the United States, "Skin redundancy of the trunk and thigh is treated by a circumferential abdominoplasty and a lower body lift. Despite preservation and tight approximation of the subcutaneous facial system, the authors have failed to adequately correct severe saddlebag deformity and midthigh laxity in the massive weight loss patient. The technique used in the last nine of the senior author's 43 lower body lifts was modified by fully abducting each operated thigh on a side utility table, before closure in the prone position. This maneuver permits an increase in width of skin excision and causes the lateral thigh skin to be taut upon leg adduction."

"This is a retrospective review of the senior surgeon's experience over a three-year period," said Dennis J. Hurwitz and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh. "Postoperative follow-up of the nine-patient cohort ranged from 8 to 12 months. A regional grading system was developed to assign points for deformity seen in preoperative and postoperative photographs. To compare the effect of the new technique on the correction of hip/lateral thigh deformities, the authors used this same grading system to analyze 10 other lower body lift patients treated by the same surgeon without full thigh abduction who had six sets of standardized photographs."

"The change in technique resulted in an observable symmetrical correction of the severe saddlebag deformity and better contour to the distal lateral thighs," stated Hurwitz and his collaborators. "All evaluated patients were satisfied with the lateral thigh skin contour. The grading system revealed that patients treated with or without intraoperative thigh abduction had similar preoperative deformity severity scores for each anatomic region (p>0.05). Postoperatively, all subjects showed improvement in scores for all treated regions. However, patients closed during full thigh abduction had ...