More and more Moms like The Biggest Loser's Suzy Preston are getting total body lifts.



When you lose a huge amount of weight, what happens to all that extra skin? More and more people are having it surgically removed, according to the New York Post, in an extreme surgery called a "total body lift." Although there were only 207 total body lifts performed in the US in 2000, over 10,000 body lifts were performed last year alone. According to plastic surgeon Dr. Dennis J. Hurwitz, author of the The Total Body Lift Book, this is largely due to a huge rise in extreme weight loss surgical procedures. (200,000 Americans are estimated to get gastric bypass surgery in 2008.) However, Dr. Hurwitz, who has performed hundreds of these procedures, says many Moms are also getting the procedure done as well to combat loose, hanging skin after childbirth.



But some women get the surgery before childbirth. Case in point: Suzy Preston, 31, of The Biggest Loser fame, had a total body lift following her dramatic 95-pound weight loss last year. "Last July, I had a total body lift, and had eight pounds of skin removed," she tells Mom•Logic. "After the surgery, my body was so tight and pulled together!" But four months after her surgery, Suzy got pregnant. "When my skin stretched out, it hurt," she recalls. "I got a hernia from the pregnancy because my skin was so tight. It was really painful when it stretched out again." Now, five months after having birth, Suzy says she wouldn't recommend the surgery to anyone considering getting pregnant. "When I get all this baby weight off, who's to say I won't have loose skin again?" wonders the new Mom of son Rex. "I would wait to go under the knife until you're done having kids."



But even Suzy says the surgery was worth it, and she'd do it again in a heartbeat. However, it does come at a cost: The procedure is $25,000 to $40,000, and patients risk infections and blood clots as a result of the eight-hour surgery. Yet, the results of a total body lift are often dramatic and life-changing. See for yourself by checking out these "before" and "after" shots, courtesy of Dr. Hurwitz.