How to Deal With Loose Skin after Weight Loss?

If you have lost a lot of weight, it's certainly an impressive accomplishment. Now that you have significantly reduced your disease risk, you must be facing the issue of sagging skin bags on your body. These hanging bags negatively impact the appearance and quality of life.

Let us help you have a deeper insight into what causes loose skin after weight loss and solution to tighten your skin.

Causes of Loose Skin after Weight Loss   

Skin act as a barrier to our body's internal organs protecting them against the environment. The innermost layer of the skin consists of proteins including collagen and elastin.

Collagen provides firmness, structure, and strength to the skin. Elastin provides elasticity and tightness to the skin.

When there is weight gain, the skin expands to accommodate increase growth in the abdomen and another part of the body.

People who have been overweight for years, when begin losing weight, the already stressed skin has its collagen and elastin fibers damaged. This restricts the retraction ability of the skin.

As a result, loose skin tends to hang from the body. The more is the weight loss, the more apparent is the loose skin effect. Additionally, according to patients who have lost weight owing to the weight loss surgery, new collagen is formed less. Other components responsible for elasticity are also damaged.

Factors Responsible For the Loss of Skin Elasticity

Several factors are responsible for the loss of skin elasticity during the weight loss regime, like:-

1) Amount of weight loss

If the weight loss is 100 pounds or more, it results in a greater amount of hanging skin in comparison to the modest weight loss.

2) Age

Aging leads to a loss of collagen. Older skin has lesser collagen then younger skin and it tends to lose quickly following weight loss.

3) Genetics

Genes also have an impact on skin response to weight gain and loss.

4) Sun exposure

Prolong sun exposure reduces skin's collagen and elastin production. This leads to skin loosening.

5) Overweight duration

Longer is the duration of being overweight or obese, loosen will be the skin after weight loss as the collagen and elastin are damaged.

Issues Related To Excessive Loose Skin

When the skin becomes loose due to measure weight loss, it leads to various physical and emotional challenges such as:-

1) Poor body image

Negative effects on body image and mood are the common outcomes of loose skin owing to weight loss.

2) Skin irritation and frequent breakouts

Loose skin is also reported often for skin pains, ulcers, and infections.

3) Decrease physical activity

Loose skin is often responsible for limited exercise mobility because the flapping skin creates an awkward situation.

4) Physical discomfort

Loose skin often poses discomfort and intervenes with normal activities.

Remedies to Tighten Loose Skin

There are a lot of natural remedies available that prove effective for skin tightening and strengthening the elasticity to some degree, in the people who have lost small to moderate amounts of weight.

Do I skip mentioning medical surgeries as a resort?

1) Indulging in a regular strength training exercise

Engaging in regular strength training exercises builds up muscle mass. With the increase in muscle mass, the appearance of loose skin tends to improve.

2) Taking collagen

Collagen hydrolysate is very similar to gelatin processed from the collagen found in connective tissues of animals. This has proved to be effective in the skin's collagen. Collagen hydrolysate is available in powdered form on natural food stores, online and offline. It is also known as hydrolyzed collagen.

Collagen can also be taken as bone broth which has other health benefits too.

3) Consuming certain nutrients

Various nutrients are important for the production of collagen that includes Protein, vitamins, and Omega 3 fatty acids and of course, water which keeps the screen hydrated, improving elasticity and firmness.

4) Using firming creams

Various options are available in creams, enriched with collagen and elastin. However, these are a temporary solution to boost the skin tightness as collagen and elastin molecules are too big to be absorbed through the skin.

Medical Treatments Available To Tighten the Loose Skin

Many people take resort in medical or surgical treatments like bariatric surgery to get rid of major weight in the body. After such surgery, there is a need to remove excess skin that can opt through body contouring surgeries like:-

· Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)

· Medical Thigh lift

· Brachioplasty (arm lift)

· Lower body lift

· Upper body lift

Multiple surgeries are performed on different parts of the body over 1 to 2 years, after major body loss. Body contouring surgeries require hospitalization for different days. In extreme cases, the surgeries may lead to complications such as bleeding and infection but usually, this improves the quality of life in formerly obese persons.