The Health Benefits of Aesthetic Body Surgery

Aesthetic body surgery (encompassing body contouring surgery and female aesthetic genital surgery) procedures continue to rise in numbers year after year. As plastic surgeons, we see the transformative benefits for our patients as they return to see us after surgery. However, as with all medical practice, anecdotal reports or opinions on the benefits are not enough to evidence our practice or to ensure best medical practice for our patients. The purpose of this paper is to look at the evidence behind the health benefits of abdominoplasty, body contouring surgery after weight loss, and female aesthetic genital surgery (aesthetic body surgery) in the medical literature and collate the benefits and evidence for the readership. This is one of the papers in a series within the Supplement, Health Benefits of Aesthetic Surgery, looking at the evidence behind the perceived benefits of the surgery that we perform. A literature review looking for evidence behind the benefits of aesthetic body contouring surgery encompassing the 3 areas of abdominoplasty, body contouring after weight loss, and female aesthetic genital surgery was performed. All 3 areas showed consistent benefits for physical and functional as well as psychosocial outcomes across a range of studies within the medical literature.