Massive Weight Loss
Meet Dr. Al Aly
Author of Body Contouring After Massive Weight Loss
Dr. Aly pioneered the field of body contouring after massive weight loss. He is a Professor at the Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery Institute at the University of California-Irvine Medical School.
He has lectured and/or performed surgical demonstrations in over 25 countries and edited the first and definitive textbook entitled Body Contouring After Massive Weight Loss, a work which is considered the “bible” for this type of surgery around the world.
“Bariatric, or weight loss surgery, is life-changing,” Dr. Aly says, and "body contouring completes the process for people."
Many of Dr. Aly's patients have been obese most of their lives, and all have been through a lot in their weight loss journey. Dr. Aly takes great pride in helping these men and women.
"I have a passion for my work because it is the final step in someone’s transformation."
Obesity is an epidemic in the US. More than 35% of Americans fit the criteria of being obese and unfortunately we have not turned the corner yet, so the numbers are still increasing.
The solution to the obesity problem is fairly complex and will require a huge effort by the government and the entire health care industry to start to chip away at it. It will have to be approached in the same manner as smoking has been dealt with.
"The treatment of obesity, once it is entrenched in an individual, is weight loss." This is a simple concept that is quite complex to accomplish. Since weight gain is most often a multifactorial problem with contributions from the individual’s natural tendencies, the culture they come from, their psychological make up as well as their family and friends, their environment, their socioeconomic status.
People can lose weight through “diet and exercise” or through bariatric surgery. Statistically speaking bariatric surgery is far more successful as a method of losing weight, but it is not to say that there is no success with diet and exercise. One common thing that both of these methods share is the need for a “change in lifestyle” in order that the weight loss is successful and permanent.
"The treatment of obesity, once it is entrenched in an individual, is weight loss."
Whether weight loss occurs through bariatric surgery or “diet and exercise” the majority of massive weight loss patients end up with body contour problems. The process of weight gain and subsequent weight loss is quite similar in its effect on skin as a balloon that has been inflated for a long time then subsequently deflated. A balloon that is blown up and then deflated immediately, usually returns to its original size.
However if the balloon is repeatedly blown up and deflated, or simply left inflated for a few days then deflated, it does not return to its original size, especially if the balloon has been inflated past its usual limits. The “over stretching” caused by the prolonged over-inflation, permanently changes the elasticity of the balloon so that it does not return to normal size. Thus the skin of most massive weight loss patients is excessive for the patient’s underlying frame and will hang in varying amounts from a number of areas in the body.
Body Areas Affected by Weight Loss
The areas most often affected by massive weight loss include the:
- lower trunk – all the way around, circumferentially, from the rib cage to the pelvis
- upper arms
- thighs
- upper trunk – circumferentially from the neck down to the rib cage
- face
Not all massive weight loss patients present with problems in all of these regions of the body, but many do.
It is very common for a massive weight loss patient to see a plastic surgeon complaining that despite going through the very arduous process of losing weight they still “look and feel fat” because of the hanging skin. This excessive skin and fat is constant reminder of having been obese and they would like to eliminate this feeling.
As response to these requests Dr. Aly has developed procedures to address these deformities. As mentioned earlier, Dr. Aly either developed or invented the procedures that will be discussed here. They were all developed in direct response to these previously unencountered problems that the massive weight loss patients present with.
It is important to note that undergoing some of these life transforming surgeries it is no guarantee that this will lead to a long term elimination of all the issues of having been obese. We highly recommend that patients approach obesity in a similar manner to alcoholism. Once a person has determined that they are alcoholic, they are always an alcoholic even if they do not drink anymore. Diligence and a life long approach to obesity has to be maintained to avoid relapses.