How Do I Know If The Scars From A Thigh or Knee Lift Are Right For Me?

Q: I am interested in getting an inner thigh and knee lift procedure but am concerned about the scarring. I have looked on the internet but pictures of these type of scars seem hard to find. Do you have any suggestions about how I should make the decision for this kind of surgery?

A: Body contouring of almost any kind always results in scars. Short of scars on the face or breasts, most scars that result from body contouring procedures will not look as good as they do on these two areas. Regardless of even seeing good scar outcomes from these procedures, that does not mean that yours will turn out as well.

Therefore, the decision to go forth with any type of ‘leg lift’ should be based on the acceptance that the scarring will not be as good as you would like it. Scars are the lower extremities are never great. They are faced with too much tension and movement after surgery that always stretches them out to some degree. You have to decide which is more acceptable, the loose skin or the scars. If you can not accept the concept of scars or have any hesitancy about them, then you should not do the procedure.

My approach to scarring in body contouring surgery is…it is always about trading off one problem for another. The operation is good one for you if the trade-off into scars is better in your mind that the excess skin problem that you had before.

Quite frankly, mentally going through this thought process is better than looking at pictures of scars from the procedure. The people that are truly happy with the results from this type of body contouring procedure don’t care what the scars look like because they hate what they have now. That is the attitude to have the scarring, no matter how it looks it is better than this loose hanging skin that I have now.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana