A recent study investigating the relationship between complications of body contouring surgery and body mass index has confirmed an increase in the occurrence of such complications with worsening degree of obesity. Findings from the study are published in the July/August 2008 issue of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, the peer-reviewed publication of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS).

In order to determine the degree of risk associated with obesity when undergoing body contouring surgery, a retrospective review was conducted of 129 patients who underwent a single body contouring procedure from 1993 and 2002. Patients were categorized based on their body mass index (BMI), clinical degree of being overweight, into groups including ideal (BMI <25), overweight (BMI 25-30), obese (BMI 31-35), morbidly obese (BMI 36-40), and severely morbidly obese (BMI >41).