Quality-of-Life assessment after medial thighplasty in patients following massive weight loss.

BACKGROUND: The improvement of medial thighplasty techniques has greatly reduced the morbidity of these interventions and participated in their democratization among surgeons and patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the beneficial effect of medial thighplasty on quality of life in patients following massive weight loss.

METHODS: The quality of life following massive weight loss after diet or bariatric surgery of 21 patients was measured using the Moorehead-Ardelt Quality of Life Questionnaire. Patients who underwent medial thighplasty following a percentage of weight loss greater than 20 percent of the body weight were included.

RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 49.9 ± 8.7 years. The average pre-medial thighplasty body mass index was 28.4 ± 4.8 kg/m and the average weight loss before surgery was 46 ± 17.1 kg. In our study, medial thighplasty improved the quality of life of patients (mean quality-of-life scores, 1.49 ± 1.3; e.g., self-esteem, physical status, social life, and improved labor conditions of patients). However, the quality of the sex life of the patient was not improved by this operation. No difference was found in quality-of-life results between patients according to the number of months since they had undergone surgery (p = 0.7252).

CONCLUSIONS: Medial thighplasty improves the aesthetic and functional outcome of the thigh. The authors report, for the first time, that medial thighplasty improves quality of life of patients with massive weight loss. With the worldwide development of obesity, this study demonstrated that the operation should be widely proposed to patients with massive weight loss to improve quality of life.

CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, V.