Efficacy of Medical Weight Loss in the Cosmetic Surgery Practice

Abstract

Weight loss is an achievement desired by many in our current society. Those who struggle to obtain their desired result with diet and exercise regimens are interested in other options. Although bariatric surgery is undeniably the surest way to achieve dramatic weight loss results, many patients are ineligible for the procedure or are uneasy regarding the surgery and desire an alternative. Thus, medical weight loss is a suitable option for many of these patients. We postulated that cosmetic patients undergoing medical weight loss would be more aggressive toward losing weight, which would synergistically result in a more significant degree of weight loss compared with noncosmetic, control patients. Our retrospective study revealed no statistically significant difference in the weight loss achieved by each group. We concluded that medical weight loss does not act synergistically with a desire to improve one’s cosmesis; however, as both groups lost weight efficaciously, it can be concluded that medical weight loss can be used as an effective tool in a cosmetic practice for eligible patients.