Loose Skin – Your Tightening Options

Most surgical weight loss patients have to deal with loose skin.  Your options vary from firming creams to surgery and it can affect the body image ego as well.  Loose skin can be difficult to treat once you have it and the truly permanent can be limiting when finances come into play.  Loose skin comes into play from weight loss, pregnancy and aging with the most common areas being the abdomen, arms, legs, neck and buttock.

Let’s talk about the options that are available besides the obvious and most desire choice of skin removal surgery:

Exercise – Building muscle mass through exercise can help decrease the appearance of loose skin, especially if the loose skin is from weight loss.  However, if your weight loss is from a recent surgery, you should check with your physician before engaging in exercise.

Firming creams – There are many firming creams on the market that state they can assist with loose skin, but the results are often not long lasting.  A good firming cream is one that contains a product called retinoid.  Retinoids prevent free radical damage in the skin that can negatively affect collagen.  Retinoids also can help with collagen production.  Collagen is vital for the skin to appear young and healthy.  Collagen also helps tissues to maintain elasticity with equates to prevention of loose skin.  A natural remedy to assist with skin tightening is the use of grapeseed which is a topical application.

Supplements – There are certain supplements that may be helpful in your quest to tighten your skin:

• Collagen hydrolysate – This product has assists in appearance of youthful skin and provides these benefits:
• Protein – Amino acids found in protein are essential building blocks for your body’s collagen production.
• Vitamin C – Your body requires Vitamin C for the synthesis of collagen.
• Gelatin – This is cooked animal collagen.  It is often used in treats such as jello and gummy candy.  Gelatin is an excellent source of glycine, a building block for your own body’s
  collagen production.

Massage the area – Massaging of the skin can increase the blood flow and help evoke an anti-aging response.  A study was done and this study shows that regular massage with a hand operated oscillating massage tool increases the positive effects of cream used.  In addition, a salt or sugar scrub in addition to the massage can increase blood flow to that area.

Now that you are armed with more information, know that you have a choice and there are non-surgical options that may be beneficial.  Love yourself enough to investigate.