Background and objective.

The high prevalence of obesity has made weight loss methods more frequent, increasing the number of patients with massive weight loss. This generates skin excess and redundant folds generating a negative impact on quality of life and body image.

The aim of this study is to describe the sociodemographic characteristics, surgical procedures, complications and the impact on quality of life in patients with massive weight loss who underwent body contouring surgery, in order to provide the psychological impact on the patient with a considerable weight loss.

Methods.

Observational, descriptive, prospective, case series study analyzing 8 adult patients who underwent body contouring surgery after a massive weight loss. Descriptive statistics were used, frequencies and percentages were obtained for categorical variables, and median and interquartile ranges were calculated for quantitative variables.

Results.

The median age was 52 years. The median weight loss was 48.70 kg. The most frequent complications were surgical wound dehiscence (50%), seroma (25%) and scar hypertrophy (25%). Fifty percent were not depressed, 37.5% were mildly/minorly depressed, and 12.5% were moderately depressed. Seventy-fve percent of patients had a decrease in score suficient to change category.

Conclusions.

In our opinion, body contouring surgery considerably improves patient's psychological state, lifestyle and self-esteem by having a better body perception, being the benefts superior to the complications that occur during the surgical process.

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