Wound complications of abdominoplasty in obese patients

The records of 90 patients who underwent an abdominoplasty at the Universit y of Virginia Health Sciences Center were analyzed to determine the effect of obesity on the incidence of complications after this surgery. The study patients were divided into three groups-obese, borderline, and nonobese-bas ed on the degree to which their preoperative weights varied from their idea l body weight. A history of previous bariatric surgery was also analyzed to determine what impact that might have on subsequent abdominoplasty. Result s showed that 80% of obese patients had complications compared with the bor derline and nonobese patients, who had complication rates of 33% and 32.5% respectively (p = 0.001). Previous gastric bypass surgery had no significan t effect an the incidence of postabdominoplasty complications. Based on the se findings the authors conclude that obesity at the time of abdominoplasty has a profound influence on the wound complication rate following surgery, regardless of any previous weight reduction surgery.