The Impact of Prior Obesity Surgery on Bleeding after Abdominal Body Contouring Surgery

Body contouring surgery removes excess skin and fat, often after massive weight loss. Some reports suggest that patients who have previously undergone obesity (bariatric) surgery are at excess risk of subsequent bleeding, possibly due to complex nutritional and metabolic sequelae of massive weight loss.

A retrospective cohort study of intraoperative blood loss and postoperative bleeding indicators were examined for patients who had undergone abdominoplasty. Participants were categorized based on their history of previous obesity surgery, and outcome variables were compared using odds ratio, followed by subgroup comparison between a history of restrictive versus malabsorptive obesity surgery.

The study included 472 patients, of which 171 (36.2 %) had a history of obesity surgery. Mean age was 40.4 years, and 402 (85.1%) participant were women. Fifty-five (11.6%) patients were smokers whereas 65 (13.7%) were hypertensive. Mean body mass index before surgery was 30.2 kg per m², and average time between obesity and body contouring surgery (if applicable) was 35.8 months. Patients with a history of obesity surgery exhibited greater intraoperative blood loss (162.2 mL versus 132.1 mL; P = 0.001), drainage volume at 24 h (155 mL versus 135 mL; P = 0.001), and total drainage volume (300ml versus 220 mL; P = 0.001). Postoperative hematoma requiring surgical re-exploration was almost three times higher following a history of obesity surgery (4.7% versus 1.7 %; P = 0.05).

History of obesity surgery increases intraoperative blood loss, postoperative serosanguinous drainage volumes, and the risk of postoperative hematoma requiring surgical evacuation after abdominal body contouring procedures.