With so many surgical and non surgical options available, choosing the best option to address your thighs can be a challenge. The completely non-invasive options like Morpheus8 and CoolSculpt lure us in with their promise of ‘no downtime’. More powerful minimally invasive options offer more improvement with some downtime. Formal surgery offers the most transformative results but there is downtime and recovery to consider. So how do you decide what is best for you? To help you with decision making, we have included a guide below.
First, let's set your expectations for the different types of treatments, procedures and surgeries that you may encounter.
Non-Invasive options like Morpheus8 and CoolSculpt: These treatments are completed in the office, rarely require medications for comfort and have minimal downtime and offer the least amount of change. Good candidates for these types of treatments have little to no loose skin and minimal fat. You will often require more than one treatment and they can be expensive depending on the number of areas that you treat. Overall they offer at most a 10-20% improvement in the appearance of your thighs and they may require ongoing maintenance or touch up treatments in the future.
Minimally-Invasive options like BodyTite or standard liposuction: These procedures are most often completed in the office, awake, with local anesthesia. Ideal candidates for these procedures have mild to moderate loose skin and mild to moderate fate. Liposuction alone will only treat the fat, but when you add BodyTite or other internal energy assisted technology, you can also tighten the skin. There is a definitive recovery and you may have to take 1-2 days off work right after surgery. Overall, they offer a 40-60% improvement in the appearance of your thighs and maybe even more if you don’t have a lot of loose skin.
Surgical options like Thigh Lift and Body Lift: These surgeries are most often completed in the operating room setting and require Intravenous or General Anesthesia. If you have moderate to severe loose skin these procedures will offer you the best results. Any surgery is invasive and these surgeries will require some downtime with limitations on activities for several weeks. You will most likely require 1 week off work and some assistance for at least the first few days. Overall, these surgeries are amazingly transformative and they offer 80-100% improvement in the appearance of your thighs especially if you have a lot of loose skin.
Next, let's figure out what option is best for you. We have included the list of thigh issues that the different treatments, procedures and surgeries treat best. This should make it easier for you to make the best decision. Take a look:
Non-Invasive options: As these only offer a small improvement, the best candidates for these treatments are those with little to no loose skin and minimal fat. Besides Morpheus8, most of these options including CoolSculpt, will not offer much skin tightening. If you have obvious loose skin, your best bet is to consider a minimally-invasive or surgical option.
Minimally-Invasive options: These procedures are great middle options especially if you have a little loose skin and some fat. While there will be a few days of downtime and a week or two of restrictions on activity, minimally invasive procedures offer a lot of improvement with little to no scarring. Limitations do exist with this approach, if you have significant loose skin, formal surgery should be considered.
Surgical options: This is the most powerful option and is a great choice for those of you with a lot of loose skin and fat. These surgeries are especially helpful for anyone who has lost a lot of weight (greater than 50 lbs) and who have residual pockets of loose skin around the thighs. Remember, these surgeries do have long but well hidden scars associated with them and the recovery can be extensive.
Check out our Podcast, Beauty and the Surgeon for more information on Thigh Lift and we look forward to seeing you in our clinic for your complimentary consultation.