Will stretched skin go back to normal after weight loss?

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What Influences Your Skin's Elasticity
Factors that influence skin loosening during weight loss include the following:
How to Avoid Loose Skin
How to Tighten Loose Skin
If you want to try to reduce loose skin from major weight loss, lose the weight slowly.
If you are having weight loss surgery, consider a surgical one-two punch: weight loss surgery immediately followed by a skin removal surgery.
Skin elasticity is dependent on two primary factors: age and genetics. But lifestyle choices matter too.
Keep the skin well hydrated.
But save your money on creams that promise you the world.
Instead, consider noninvasive treatments and even weight training.
If excess skin is interfering with your life, then it’s time to consider plastic surgery—with the input of multiple medical professionals.
Above all—and perhaps most importantly—be proud of yourself.
How long does it take for skin to tighten back up after weight loss?
Can you get rid of loose skin after major weight loss?
How do I get my stretched skin back to normal?
How do you tighten skin after losing weight?

Golero / Getty Images

If you have been successful in losing a large amount of weight, you may have loose skin. You are not alone as loose or saggy skin is a common problem after losing a large amount of weight (100 pounds or more) in a short period of time. In time, you may see improvements in your skin's elasticity, but some people may require surgery to remove excess skin.1

What Influences Your Skin's Elasticity

Factors that influence skin loosening during weight loss include the following:

Age: As you get older, your skin becomes less elastic.2
Amount of weight you lost: Weight loss of 100 pounds or more typically results in a greater amount of hanging skin.
Genetics: Genes influence how much firmness your skin retains as you get older. Some people are just more susceptible to sagging skin than others.
How long you've been overweight: If you're overweight for a long period of time you're skin may not be able to fully contract back into its smaller shape down when you lose weight.
How quickly you lose weight: When you lose too much weight too fast, such as with weight loss surgery, your skin's elasticity doesn't have time to catch up. The result is loose skin.3
Nutrition and water intake: Your skin may not be as healthy or firm if you aren't getting balanced nutrition, vitamins, and minerals (especially vitamins C and E) and staying hydrated.4
Smoking: Smoking can speed up the normal aging process of your skin.
Sun exposure: Your past, present, and future exposure to the sun can damage your skin.

How to Avoid Loose Skin

While you won't be able to completely prevent loose skin if you're losing large amounts of weight, losing weight slowly is the best way to avoid excessive sagging.

Most experts recommend aiming for 1 to 2 pounds a week, which translates to 4 to 8 pounds per month. This will help you lose more fat than muscle and will allow your skin to adjust as you lose weight.

How to Tighten Loose Skin

Because we're all different, each person will have a different response after losing weight. Some people may bounce back quickly while others may consider body contouring surgery to get rid of extra skin. Body contouring surgery is an expensive and serious procedure requiring a long recovery time.

Plastic surgery experts recommend waiting at least a year after weight loss to allow your weight to stabilize before considering body contouring plastic surgery.

You may be able to make a difference with other options, such as exercise and a healthy diet. A basic cardio and strength training program can help you reduce body fat while building muscle. When you add muscle, you can improve how the skin looks and may be able to reduce some sagging.

By Paige Waehner, CPT
Paige Waehner is a certified personal trainer, author of the "Guide to Become a Personal Trainer," and co-author of "The Buzz on Exercise & Fitness."

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I have lost 85 pounds without bariatric surgery. Weight loss has been on my mind basically my entire life, most especially since I started this journey in earnest in July 2019. And, as proud of myself as I most certainly am for losing this weight and finally getting healthier, it is met toe-to-toe with pervasive anxiety and a nagging question: What about excess skin?

Because of the slower pace at which I’m losing my weight, I haven’t yet encountered loose skin, though I have at least 50 more pounds left to go. I worry, perhaps too much, if I will be able to make it through to my goal weight without needing skin tightening at the end of this journey.

It’s a pretty unsexy topic—which is why it’s rarely, if ever, discussed. But for those like me who are on major weight loss journeys, or whose bodies have changed significantly through pregnancy, it’s a question that plagues us: Am I going to encounter excess skin the more weight I lose? And if I do, what can I do about it?

If you want to try to reduce loose skin from major weight loss, lose the weight slowly.

“Losing weight gradually rather than rapidly may prevent excess skin after major weight loss,” Los Angeles–based dermatologist Harold Lancer says. “However, rapid large-scale weight loss will invariably result in excess skin.” Devgan seconds that. “The best way to prevent skin laxity after weight loss is to do your best to lose weight at a slow and steady pace,” she says. “Although it may sound appealing to get to the finish line quickly, that is actually the worst thing you can do in terms of skin laxity.” Slowly losing weight, she says, allows the skin to contract and shrink as the shape of the body shrinks.

Although it may sound appealing to get to the finish line quickly, that is actually the worst thing you can do in terms of skin laxity.

If you are having weight loss surgery, consider a surgical one-two punch: weight loss surgery immediately followed by a skin removal surgery.

Though I personally haven’t opted for weight loss surgery, many do—and there is zero shame in that. But because of the more rapid pace with which weight is lost after surgery comes the greater likelihood of excess skin. Why do we have to worry about excess skin, especially after more rapid weight loss? It’s “because collagen and elastin fibers are destroyed when skin is stretched significantly and remains stretched for an extended amount of time,” New York City plastic surgeon David Shafer says. “Patients should plan on staged procedures if having a weight loss surgery followed by a skin removal surgery.”

Skin elasticity is dependent on two primary factors: age and genetics. But lifestyle choices matter too.

“Typically, younger patients with thicker and more sebaceous skin will have more skin contraction during weight loss due to better elasticity,” Devgan says. “Starting in the 20s, tissue elasticity begins to decline. Even in the absence of weight fluctuation, loss of tissue turgor and decreased firmness can be seen in midface descent in the late 20s, breast laxity in the 30s, abdominal laxity in the 40s, and extremity laxity in the 50s.”

However, everyone’s body is different, Devgan says. “There is a tremendous amount of variability in the human experience, so some patients may lose 50 pounds with minimal change in their body, while others can lose as few as 10 and see tissue laxity.” If you are genetically blessed with unusually superb tissue elasticity, Devgan says, it can be less dramatic. (And lucky you.)

Also, lifestyle choices can factor in, as well, Boston-based dermatologist Ranella Hirsch says. How long were you at the weight you started losing from? Are you a smoker? Do you spend a lot of unprotected time in the sun? All these factors play into skin elasticity.

Keep the skin well hydrated.

“Using an emollient moisturizer rich in vitamin E will help improve the barrier protection of the skin and lock in moisture,” Devgan says. And the topical medical-grade ingredients you use on your face for firmness and tightness of the skin—like hyaluronic acid, peptides, niacin, squalene, vitamins C and B, retinol, and bakuchiol—can work elsewhere, too, she says. “Most people focus on using these for the face and neck in their daily routines, but from a molecular perspective, their efficacy is present anywhere on the body.”

Our Favorite Body Creams

Nécessaire The Body Lotion with Niacinamide

Biossance Squalane + Caffeine Toning Body Cream

Sol de Janeiro Bom Dia Bright Body Cream with Vitamin C

Augustinus Bader The Body Cream with TFC8 Moisturizer

But save your money on creams that promise you the world.

“Losing large amounts of weight rapidly tends to leave skin behind,” Hirsch says. “Though creams with incredible claims abound, they actually do little.”

Instead, consider noninvasive treatments and even weight training.

Building muscle through weight training might help reduce the appearance of lax skin, New York City dermatologist Dendy Engelman says. “This helps reduce the appearance by replacing the lost fat with muscle mass.” And there are nonsurgical options for dealing with loose skin following weight loss, but they won’t help with skin folds or hanging skin.

“Noninvasive treatments such as laser and radiofrequency can help tighten the skin, but there is a limit to how much they can do,” Shafer adds. “Hanging skin generally needs to be surgically excised with procedures such as abdominoplasty, body lift, and arm lift.” There is a difference between loose skin and hanging skin, Shafer says. “It’s possible patients can manage and treat excess skin cases without undergoing skin removal surgery, such as if the skin is loose but not hanging.” He adds, “In that case, noninvasive treatments may be useful, but hanging skin most often requires surgical excision.”

Noninvasive treatments such as laser and radiofrequency can help tighten the skin, but there is a limit to how much they can do.

If excess skin is interfering with your life, then it’s time to consider plastic surgery—with the input of multiple medical professionals.

“After major weight loss, people may have skin that hangs off their body,” Engelman says. “These heavy folds can cause health problems such as pain, inflammation, and frequent infections from the skin constantly rubbing together. This can happen while exercising or during everyday activities. When a person is having functional issues because of their excess skin, it should be a sign that this problem needs to be addressed.” And, of course, everyone’s journey is different.

Lancer says some individuals will tolerate moderate laxity and be happy with the weight loss accomplishment; others will seek out skin tightening for as little as a five-pound weight loss (he is based in L.A. after all). But, he says, if plastic surgery does become the option on the table, “I would recommend getting at least three opinions from doctors who exclusively do excess body skin reduction. Once you select a doctor, do one small area on your body, so you can evaluate the procedure, how your body heals, and your results. Afterward, you can determine whether you’d like to proceed with a full-blown larger procedure.”

He suggests consulting with a dermatologist for nonsurgical options, then having that doctor recommend plastic surgeons who deal with excess body skin reduction if you feel that is the right path for you. It is a major decision that should not be taken lightly. Bring medical professionals along for the entire weight loss journey (even if you’ve already started) and ask all the questions: Which specific procedure is best? How much will it cost? Will insurance cover it? (From my research thus far, no if it is cosmetic, but perhaps yes if it would help correct something that is limiting the functionality of your daily life.) No question is off-limits, and don’t try to make these decisions alone.

Above all—and perhaps most importantly—be proud of yourself.

If this piece applies to you at all, be it from long-standing weight you carried or from losing weight gained from pregnancy or anywhere in between, that means one thing: You’ve taken major steps toward better physical health, and that should be applauded. “Everyone’s weight loss story is different, and some days are harder than others,” Engelman says. “I say, try to be kind to yourself. You’ve just reached a huge accomplishment and should be proud of that.”

Devgan agrees. “Accomplishing a personal health goal like major weight loss is an incredible achievement that anyone should be proud of,” she says. “While excess skin can feel like a burden or source of self-consciousness, it is also a reminder of the metaphorical and literal shedding of the weight of a prior version of oneself. You cannot have a couture gown without a seam, and you cannot have a surgery without a scar. Life has limitations, but that does not make it less beautiful. It makes it more real.”

How long does it take for skin to tighten back up after weight loss?

“In general, it can take anywhere from weeks to months—even years,” says Dr. Chen. If after one to two years skin is still loose, it may not get any tighter, she says.

Can you get rid of loose skin after major weight loss?

Losing a lot of weight can leave a person with saggy skin, especially if weight comes off quickly. Unfortunately, there's no magic lotion or cream that can get rid of extra skin after weight loss. You should keep seeing improvement, but you may need to give it more time.