“You’re pretty honest about the topicals: it’s not going to remove the excess skin. But we have to do everything we can to make the process the best possible and to try to minimize how much surgery we’re going to need.”
Marc McKee lost 126 pounds on a GLP-1. On This Is My Journey he asked me what a topical can do and where it stops. That was the start of my answer.
“Topicals definitely have a place in weight loss. We’re having less fat consumption, and fat is an emollient that helps with barriers in the cell membranes. We’re taking less protein, which generates collagen. And we’re usually taking a lot less fluid, so we’re dehydrated. All three decrease the moisture in the skin, which makes it look older a lot quicker.”
“The topicals have two functions: barrier and attracting moisture, and then the antioxidants, which keep the skin looking younger, and retinoids, which can speed up turnover. So the skincare helps with fine lines and wrinkles, makes the skin appear firmer, helps with texture, helps with comfort, because with weight loss we also have problems with dry skin and itchiness.”
No tightening on that list. No lifting. I took apart the collagen marketing already, and the face piece is here.
Am I against creams? No.
“Skincare is part of any surgery I do. Even for a breast augmentation or a tummy tuck, I put my patients on a special moisturizer, because when there’s inflammation and recovery you lose that moisture, and that really hurts you in the end.”
“It’s true, the skin doesn’t know how you did it. Patients lose the weight, the envelope stays, and some patients feel ashamed of it, like they did something wrong. That’s not the fact. It’s just the way things work.”
Anti-promise, not anti-cream.
So where does the jar stop?
“I would start with the topicals early on to give the skin the foundation and help it recoil as much as possible. As we’re losing weight, the first thing patients notice is the face, usually at two months. That’s when we start using fillers or Sculptra and radiofrequency treatments like microneedling with radiofrequency for skin tightening, just to get them through to the later stages.”
Month two. The whole ladder is in the full post on swplasticsurgery.com.
And where does the med spa stop?
“If you’re losing 40 pounds, I think you’re going to need a surgical procedure.”
Then the part nobody selling a serum wants said.
“Everybody retracts some, probably not as much as we would want, and it’s also sooner than people think. It really happens in the early stages, and I think at a maximum of a year it’s all done.”
“Skin stops producing elastin after puberty, so it just doesn’t contract like it does during puberty.”
No serum reopens that. Barrier, protein and water help the skin give you what it has while the window is open. That’s it.
“The skin is going to react the way it does. We can’t do a lot about it. We can help it in some ways, but you shouldn’t feel bad if you have excess skin. It’s part of losing weight, and everybody’s different.”
Marc’s line: the volume goes, the envelope stays. The rest of our talk is in the episode post.
Minimize surgery. Not avoid it.
Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book at agulloplasticsurgery.com. #StayBeautiful
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