Body lift in Turkey

A full body lift in Turkey is the operation people search for when a large weight loss has left skin hanging right around the trunk and no exercise will take it away. Surgeons call it a body lift, a belt lipectomy or a circumferential lipectomy; patients almost always call it skin removal surgery.

Turkey handles a high volume of post-bariatric body contouring, which is why it dominates searches for this operation. This page covers what the different versions actually remove, what makes the price move between quotes, how long you really need to stay, the scar, the recovery, and how to check a surgeon before you commit.

This is the question the page exists to answer. Two Turkish quotes can differ substantially and still both be honest, because they describe different amounts of work.

• How much of the circumference is lifted. A lower body lift and a full body lift are different operations with very different theatre times. This is the largest single factor.
• How many nights in hospital. This is longer than most cosmetic surgery. A quote assuming same-day discharge is describing a smaller operation than the one you may need.
• Whether liposuction is included. Frequently combined to shape the area, and one of the most common items to appear as an extra.
• Whether an arm lift, breast lift or thigh lift is bundled in. Post-weight-loss patients often need more than one, and bundles differ widely in what they contain.
• Compression garments and drain care. Needed for weeks. Ask whether the garments and the district nurse equivalent are in the price.
• The revision policy. Ask in writing who pays for theatre, hospital and return flights if a second operation is needed.

The clinic list on this page shows the current price for each hospital with a label saying what that figure covers, which is the only way to compare quotes fairly. Treat any headline figure without that label as incomplete.

This is where people underestimate the trip. A body lift is not a fly-in-fly-out operation, and the length of stay is a clinical decision rather than a booking preference.

• Hospital first, hotel after. Expect an inpatient stay, then a further period nearby while drains come out and the wound is checked.
• Drains decide the timetable. They come out when the fluid settles, and that varies between patients. It is the commonest reason a stay runs long.
• Flying is a clot risk. After surgery this long, your surgeon sets the date you may fly. Book a changeable return rather than a cheap fixed fare.
• Someone should travel with you. You will not be lifting luggage, and for the first days you will need help with ordinary things.

1. 1

   In hospital

   You wake with drains and a compression garment already fitted. Walking starts early, and you sleep propped and bent at the hip to keep tension off the closure.
2. 2

   The first fortnight

   Drains come out as output falls. No lifting, no bending forward, and the garment stays on. This is the period most people find hardest.
3. 3

   Weeks three to six

   Swelling and numbness along the scar are normal and slow to resolve. Desk work usually resumes in this window; the gym does not.
4. 4

   Months three to twelve

   The scar goes through a red, raised phase before it flattens and fades. The final contour is judged at the end of that period, not before.

• Weight stable for months, not weeks. Operating while you are still losing gives skin that loosens again.
• Well clear of bariatric surgery. Surgeons want nutrition and weight settled before a long contouring operation.
• Not smoking, and able to stay stopped. The single biggest avoidable cause of wound breakdown on a closure this long.
• Bloods checked. Protein, iron and vitamin deficiencies are common after bariatric surgery and slow healing. Have them done before you travel.
• No pregnancy planned. A later pregnancy undoes the abdominal result.

The contour change after a body lift is dramatic and, with stable weight, lasting. What varies is how the long scar matures and whether small revisions are needed at the ends of the closure. Judge the outcome at around a year, once the swelling has gone and the scar has started to pale.

If staged payment would make the difference, see the payment plans page for how it works.