Increased morbidity in patients undergoing abdominoplasty after laparoscopic gastric bypass.

[INTRODUCTION] 30-40% of the adult population in Denmark are overweight and 10-13% are obese. The number of bariatric operations reached 3,000 in 2009, and it is expected that a third or more of the patients need corrective plastic surgery.

[MATERIAL AND METHODS] Medical charts of all patients who had abdominoplasty performed during a 2.5-year period. We included 72 patients of whom 21 had lost weight after bariatric surgery and 51 patients had lost weight through diet and exercise or had not been overweight.

[RESULTS] The overall complication rate was 21% (43% of the post-bariatric patients and 12% of the non-post-bariatric patients, p < 0.01). When adjusted for the maximum body mass index (BMI) and BMI at the time of abdominoplasty, post-bariatric patients still had a higher complication rate than non post-bariatric patients (OR = 4.8; 95% CI: 0.92-25.04). Post-bariatric patients had a significantly higher maximum weight, weight at the time of abdominoplasty and had lost more BMI units.

[CONCLUSION] Our data show that post-bariatric patients who have an abdominoplasty performed suffer a high complication rate which appears to be higher than that of patients who do not have bariatric surgery. We have also shown a tendency towards increased costs of abdominoplasty in post-bariatric patients due to a slightly longer operating time and more postoperative office visits.