Thigh Lift Surgery Tampa FL

Everyone wants to look great and feel confident in a bathing suit or short shorts. However, it can be pretty difficult to “strut your stuff” with visible cellulite and thighs that rub together! But fear not, with today’s thigh lift techniques, you can regain firm, tight, and slim thighs.

Dr. Traci Temmen is skilled in thigh lift surgery and other body contouring procedures following weight loss. She is known by her patients for her perfectionist nature, expert surgical skill, and comforting bedside manner. If you are finally ready to get toned thighs that beg to be displayed in a knee-skimming skirt, call Dr. Traci Temmen, thigh lift surgeon, today!

Thigh Lift Surgery

A thigh lift surgery is designed to remove excess fat and tighten the skin of the upper legs and thighs. Depending on the degree of skin laxity and excess fat, liposuction alone, a combination of liposuction and thigh skin excision, or a two-staged procedure with liposuction and skin excision is used. Dr. Traci Temmen and her staff at Temmen Plastic Surgery will help you select the thigh lift surgery to fit your needs and fulfill your dreams.

For patients with minimal skin laxity, good skin tone, and minimal to moderate amounts of excess fat, liposuction alone can be a good choice to improve the contour and firmness of the legs and thighs. Circumferential liposuction is performed to reduce the amount of thigh fat, particularly of the inner and outer thighs, and promote postoperative skin retraction. Thigh liposuction is performed through tiny port site incisions placed in well-hidden areas of the legs.

For patients with skin laxity of the thighs and moderate amounts of excess fat, a combination of thigh liposuction and skin excision is needed. Depending on the amount of excess skin, a number of different incisions can be used. Dr. Temmen always chooses the incision that will leave the shortest thigh lift scar and still provide the best results. For skin laxity limited to the upper 1/3 of the thigh, a horizontal incision placed in the groin crease is used to elevate and secure loose thigh skin to the pubic bone. This thigh lift approach, performed through a horizontal incision confined to the groin crease, is often called a mini thigh lift. For patients with more severe skin laxity involving the upper and lower thigh and knee area, a vertical incision extending from the upper thigh to knee area placed on the inner aspect of the thigh is necessary to get the best skin tightening results.

While rarely necessary, patients who have loose, flabby thigh skin and a significant amount of excess fat, Dr. Temmen may recommend a two-staged thigh lift approach. The first stage involves circumferential liposuction of the thighs followed approximately three months later by a skin excision and tightening procedure performed through a vertical inner thigh incision.

Who is a Candidate for a Thigh Lift?

The best candidate for a thigh lift surgery is a patient with excess, sagging thigh skin and excess fat secondary to weight loss or aging. Thigh lift patients should be at or near their ideal body weight and be in good health. Patients who have had a full or mini thigh lift elsewhere and wish to revise their results may also be good candidates for revision thigh lift surgery.

During every thigh lift consultation, Dr. Temmen and her staff take the time to explain the surgery in detail, describe expected results, and answer every possible question. Dr. Temmen wants her thigh lift and body contouring patients to be well informed, comfortable, and secure. Many patients undergoing a thigh lift or body contouring procedure will also receive preoperative laboratory work, and depending on age, a chest X-ray, EKG, and medical clearance from their primary care doctor.

Who is Not a Thigh Lift Candidate?

While most men and women with excessive amounts of thigh fat and loose skin are safe to undergo a thigh lift surgery, not everyone is an ideal candidate for a thigh lift or body contouring procedure. Patients that smoke, have complicated medical problems (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, blood clots), or are considered obese with a BMI >30 are not candidates for a full or mini thigh lift. Dr. Traci Temmen requires that patients stop smoking for at least 9-12 months, have medical conditions well controlled, and have reached their ideal body weight before proceeding with body contouring or thigh lift surgery. Patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery to lose weight should be at a stable weight for at least six months and should be nutritionally optimized before proceeding with cosmetic thigh lift surgery. To obtain the best results possible, women who have recently had a baby should postpone surgery for at least 9 months to let their skin and soft tissues contract before undergoing cosmetic body contouring surgery.

Thigh Lift Scars

Like any body contouring procedure, there is a tradeoff to be made between loose, sagging skin and scars. With a thigh lift, patients trade flabby, excess, dimpled thigh skin without scars for tightened and smooth thigh skin with a scar. The final thigh lift scar is dependent on the amount of excess skin and upper thigh fat. Patients with generally good skin quality and variable amounts of excess thigh fat that requires only liposuction of the thighs will have just a few, tiny, port scars on each thigh. Patients with excess skin and fat limited to the upper 1/3 of the thigh are best served with a thigh lift performed through a horizontal scar placed in the groin crease. The resultant scar is short and well-concealed, and thus this type of thigh lift performed through a groin crease scar is often referred to as a mini thigh lift. Patients with large amounts of thigh fat and excess skin extending from the pubic area to just above the knee require a vertical thigh lift scar placed on the inner aspect of the thigh that extends from the groin crease to the inner knee. A full thigh lift scar is well-concealed when the thighs are together but is, of course, able to be seen when the patient is walking or wearing shorts.

Dr. Temmen understands concerns over scarring following a cosmetic thigh lift or other body contouring procedure. She performs each surgery with the aim to provide the best cosmetic result possible while minimizing the scar burden.

Thigh Lift Recovery

Dr. Traci Temmen performs thigh lifts and other body sculpting surgeries in an accredited, private surgical suite, custom-made for plastic surgeons. For patient comfort and safety, Dr. Temmen performs thigh lift surgery under general anesthesia with the patient completely asleep and closely monitored. Thigh lift surgery requires approximately 2-3 hours of operative time, depending on the complexity, need for liposuction, and size of the patient. Patients recover in the luxury of a private recovery suite with a recovery room nurse dedicated solely to them and their comfort.

Dr. Temmen’s thigh lift patients usually require postoperative thigh drains to help speed recovery and decrease postoperative complications. The drains are generally removed in one to five days after surgery. A postoperative compression garment must be worn for six weeks to aid in healing and shaping of the thighs following a thigh lift. Patients are prescribed oral pain medications, antibiotics, and anti-nausea medicines postoperatively. Most of Dr. Temmen’s thigh lift patients are able to return to work in 5 to 7 days, drive when they are no longer taking narcotic pain medications, and return to full exercise by six weeks.

Thigh Lift Cost

Like all cosmetic surgery, cost should not be the determining factor when choosing a thigh lift or body contouring surgeon. To ensure your surgeon is properly trained and meets rigorous educational and ethical standards, only plastic surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery should be considered. Dr. Traci Temmen is proud to be one of the few female board certified plastic surgeons in the Tampa Bay area to offer advanced body contouring, liposuction of the thighs, mini thigh lift, and full thigh lift surgery to her patients.

The cost of a thigh lift varies by plastic surgeon, region of the country, and complexity. The average price of a thigh lift starts at around $11,900 including surgeon fees, anesthesia fees, facility fees, and postoperative compression garments. The cost may be less when only liposuction of the thighs or a mini thigh lift is needed. The cost of a thigh lift often increases with additional areas treated by liposuction, revisionary surgery, and increases in planned surgical time.

Dr. Temmen offers convenient payment options for patients interested in a thigh lift or other body contouring surgeries. They accept check, credit, card, and CareCredit, a credit card that offers special financing and low monthly payments for cosmetic surgery procedures.

Thigh Lift Risks and Problems

Like all body contouring procedures, thigh lift surgeries are associated with certain known complications and risks. One of the most common problems encountered following a thigh lift is incision breakdown or wound healing problems. Wound healing problems are most often encountered in the groin crease scar or a scar placed in the upper inner thigh. Wound complications are less commonly encountered at liposuction port incisions or on the lower thigh incisions.

Other risks associated with a thigh lift are postoperative blood or fluid collections that can usually be managed with prolonged drains or minor in-office procedures. Occasionally, superficial infections may occur following a thigh lift that can be managed with antibiotics in the clinic. Rare, more serious infections of the deeper soft tissues may require hospitalization for intravenous antibiotics and additional surgeries. The most serious risk of a thigh lift surgery is a blood clot in the legs or lungs. To decrease the risk of blood clots, all of Dr. Traci Temmen’s thigh lift patients have sequential compression devices (SCD’s) placed on the lower extremities and are turned from side to side during surgery to increase blood flow and improve circulation. Postoperatively, patients wear compression stockings and are encouraged to walk, further decreasing the risk of blood clots.

All the risks of a thigh lift surgery are increased in patients that smoke, have poorly controlled medical problems, or are overweight. Thus, the risk and complications associated with a thigh lift can be minimized by proper patient selection and postoperative care. Dr. Traci Temmen, and most other credible plastic surgeons, will not perform body contouring procedures on patients who have high-risk medical problems or are extremely over weight. Plastic surgeons like Dr. Traci Temmen, certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, are trained not only in thigh lift and body contouring techniques, but also in diagnosing and appropriately treating the complications and risks associated with cosmetic body sculpting procedures. You can be sure that you are in caring and safe hands when you choose Dr. Traci Temmen and Temmen Plastic Surgery to perform your thigh lift surgery.

Thigh Lift Before and After

Pictures speak for themselves, so before making your final decision regarding a thigh lift surgeon, take a look at Dr. Traci Temmen’s before and after thigh lift photos in Tampa on the Gallery section of this website. Feel free to print your favorite before and after thigh lift or other body contouring photographs to discuss with Dr. Temmen at your free consultation. In addition to those on the website, Dr. Temmen has many more before and after thigh lift photos available for viewing during your thigh lift consultation.

Please note that many of our body contouring before and after photos are taken only six weeks to three months after surgery, thus areas of swelling and scar visibility will continue to decrease for up to one year following surgery.

For more information on Dr. Traci Temmen, thigh lift, and other cosmetic body contouring procedures offered, please contact us today at (813) 771-6393.