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I still have swelling at 5 months post. My surgeon said WLS/massive weight loss patients tend to have a different time line for healing. My puckering was resolved with diligent silicone tape usage. I also used a rx retinoid on it to resurface the skin (This was not in my instructions but I already used it for my face and knew what it could do) Compression seems to help people with swelling and waist training is touted to help lose inches

Yes, I have 6 or 7 inch long incisions from the laparoscopic robot at the incision sites. They aren't huge but they are visible with my shirt off. I guess it could be stitches under the skin know that I feel they that's a possibility., I was told they glued the incisions closed on the surface but not sure what's going on inside. Did they eventually go away or at least get smaller?

I had my surgery a week ago and still have big knots under the skin. This must just be scar tissue. If someone who is a little farther out then me can tell me if that go away? Thanks, Mattk53

@Suzi_the_Q : so all this corset talk sent me down the corset-research rabbit hole yesterday, LOL. While I am not really in the market for a corset for its waist-cinching abilities, I started looking into them because I AM in the market for a lower abdominal cinching/compression/squishing device. As I mentioned earlier, I had a tummy tuck almost 6 months ago have have been wearing an abdominal binder to address the swelling (doc says it can persist for up to a year. a YEAR!!). The binder is just a basic elasticized "belt" with a velcro closure that I wrap around my lower abdomen/hips. My problem(s) are that (1) my waist is relatively smaller than my lower abdomen/hips (there's about a 9-10 inch difference) so the top part of the binder gapes alot and is forever riding up to move OFF of where I want it to stay. Angling the velcro closure to make it it fits smaller up top, has the same effect. (2) My hip bones seem to stick out further out than the dreaded swell bump, so I can't seem to get a snug enough fit/compression level across my lower abdomen for my liking, AND I end up with sore hip bones from the friction from trying to pull it tight enough. Sooooooo....I thought maybe a corset would do the trick, since there would be a real fit through the waist to the lower abs (to prevent ride up), and could possibly also address the hip bone protrusion situation because the added help of the steel busk down the front (to compress my lower abdomen without pressing down on my hip bones). Anyway, this is my long-winded lead up to ask: When you were corseting, did you also find that there was alot of compression to the lower abdomen? I'm thinking a body suit corset would do the trick, as the more traditional ones without the attached panty *look* like they are still pretty loose at the bottom hem...? I get there are no actual bones to move around in that area for any permanent squishing, I'm really just looking for some effective compression on my swell bulge for my current body shape. Or am I going down the wrong rabbit hole for my needs? Thoughts?

Sorry I’m being a serial poster. Did anyone have (or will have) an On-Q pump? When I woke up from surgery I had a small incision at the bottom of my sternum, and two catheters running under my skin on both sides of my abdomen. Then I carried around a little zippered bag of medication that slowly dripped into my abdomen for 3 days, numbing things. It was awesome and I had almost zero pain. At 72 hours I was able to gently pull out the catheters and throw the whole thing away. I’ve just never seen it mentioned here and was curious how common it was!

Since this summer is probably going to be *complicated* and I didn't think i would get to fully enjoy it, I decided to finish (for now) my plastics journey. Initially i lost weight during quarantine by following a few exercise routines. Muscle tone was improving but looking in the mirror i was not satisfied with how my skin was laying on my body. I realized i didn't need to be thinner but tighter and after major weightloss or WLS, major skin tightening is nearly impossible to do with surgical intervention. I decided i also want a fuller rounder behind after all to look more balanced. I decided that i NEEDED a BBL. So I set on the very hard 😂path to gain about 10-15 lbs. My surgeon reminded me of our earlier conversations about mt skin laxity and refused to give me just a BBL without skin lifting /removal. He even warned me that i didn't even have enough choice fat (abdominal stubborn fat) for it anyway, My problem was excess thick skin 😒 We moved ahead with the back lift with some minor fat transfer and he was right. My results are transformative. I need to stay at my higher weight for a few months in order to allow the fat that was transfered an opportunity to live and grow. But i honestly look better now that 15lbs ago and my clothes still all fit the same, mostly. Apparently loose skin is a drag on your clothes sizing.

AAAACCK!! I have a turkey wattle neck also and hate it. But you look nice and young--give it some time and all your skin should bounce back. You look great!

I’m 8+ months post op. HW 285 SW 245 CW 173. Total lost 115 lbs. Want to lose 30 more. I’ve never measured. I do eyeball & count in head. Doesn’t work for all. I have strong aversion to writing down, journaling & exact counting. Negatively reminds me of my up-down history with WW. It’s worked so far. Also took me good 4 months to get into exercising. Joined gym just before self isolation so it’s been on hold. But took advantage of isolation period. Broke out my old hand weights, leg/arm bicycle & bought Pilates ring. It has become part of my schedule during this period & will continue to do so. Results I’m seeing keeps me motivated. Not only some “bumps” that I’ll call muscles! But tightening of legs & arms to help with some saggy skin. And energy level through the roof. Hope this helps but I didn’t start to exercise until I was good ready!

I use to be someone that didn't wear bras despite my large breasts. I was probably somewhere around a triple D or a G. After WLS they have gotten much smaller and there is loose skin. I now want to wear bras in public. However, I do not wear them at night. It does not seem to be a problem. At this time, I do not know what bra size I wear because I have been unable to try them on at stores.

Maybe that is it. I don't know. I would think that if it was too much I would feel sick or something. I am wondering if because I was sleeved for almost 3 years that I have a loose pouch. With the sleeve I would eat an egg, 2 or 3 slices of bacon, and grits.

I posted about this b4 I need help with this neck I've list almost 100lbs and for the most part I'm happy with my body a lil excess skin but I can deal with....this neck i can not and I dnt have the money to do anything about it right now....what can i do? Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Wow, we really are twins. I had my last period when I was 46, but I started having hot flashes etc. almost 10 years before that. 10 miserable years of perimenopause and confusion, hot flashes, skin problems, etc. And my doctors didn't believe me! "You're too young," they said. Ugh. Menopause definitely makes it harder to keep weight down, your metabolism slows a bit and you don't have that wonderful estrogen anymore. Plus part of the reason I went on Effexor was due to menopause so...yeah, it all adds up. Evening primrose oil helps a bit, I mostly take it because I have had cystic breasts in the past, and my OB/GYN said to take a big capsule every day. Once I started doing that, I no longer had cysts show up on my mammogram. Win! I was surprised how much the black cohosh helps. I mean, if I miss it even once I really feel the difference.

... I don't think it'd be an issue. I mean, a lot of women who have children have loose skin from their pregnancy and have no issue with dating, so I don't think it'd be a problem. That's how I look at it anyway... and I use my sister as my reference as she had a lot of loose skin and stretch marks from her first pregnancy and she had no trouble with her love life. She's now happily married and pregnant with her third child (just as reference, my eldest niece is 11. The younger is 1. My sister and her husband have been together for 4 years so... yeah, she did date and had two semi-serious relationships before she met her husband).

Oh- I take non-essentials like collagen, saw palmetto, and hyaluronic acid for skin and hair. Plus flaxseed oil (omega 3,6,9), vitamin C, and D3. But thank you- I'll likely replace my multivitamin with the bariatric pal one when I get my surgery. Currently I take a pre-natal as my multi because it makes my hair amazing. (Yes I know I may lose some hair after surgery).

Well, I do have loose skin on my thighs and stomach. My butt is also kinda saggy now. I am sure it has an impact on dating but I am already married. Why do you feel like that it prevents you from dating?

ha anyone had any issues with excess skin, especially around the belly that prevents dating?

Well to be frank there hasn't been alot of exercises... I do have a little skin under my arms and legs still and my lower belly certain days...

Congratulations! In your photo, you don't seem to have any loose skin. I would love to know what kind of exercise you do.

Sweetheart only thing I can tell you is remember everything that you learned for those first 6 months prior to surgery I'm not sure where you live but if you're a Costco member they have a lot of options for choosing the things that were supposed to allowed to eat but they're good like no GMOs baked whole wheat crisps with protein in every single chip and I found a big bag of chickpeas for snacking salted awesome protein and I tell you something I have had the most horrific experience with my bariatric surgery I can't specify which one because I had to have two different ones and not at my fault at the hands of the first surgeon that messed me up so bad the story is unbelievable I look horrible the first 6 months I dropped all my weight from 233 lbs down to 168 way too fast everything that I ever had as muscle boobs at all lost I don't have the hanging sagging skin but I'm skeletal I had nice boobs I know I heard stories about people who finished the bigness of their breasts but not like this mine is like just skin and I have always had nice breasts never had to wear a bra and now because those are gone that's what makes me look so skeletal my bones are sticking out for my collarbone you can see my top rib cage Alex sucked up like I'm some kind of drug addict or something I am very very sad I even have age that's all it did for me is aged me I look as old as my mother within I'd say it's been almost 2 years January it will be 2 years and I'm still having trouble finding an attorney to take the case I've had to take it and drop it the first dropped it because he did not know enough about bariatrics II dropped because all he was concerned about is how much money has law firm would lose if he didn't win and he just lost a case with bariatrics 120000 a cost at this for me said but he want to previous to that that's here nor there I'm sorry going off track here but you need to remember having a little bit of weight on you 173 I would love to be back that way that's a healthy weight unless you don't carry it very well and it's too much fatty fat instead of muscle protein protein protein do you work out cram the protein after if you are able you can buy a kayak it helps build your arms standing in front of a wall and put your palms up on it and that back couple steps and just do push-ups on the wall start there those are reps but it's also building the further back the heart of the pushing and then maybe you can start getting lower and lower until you're on a park bench and you're doing them sit on a picnic table put your feet hooked up under the seat on the other side and do sit ups if you have the energy to do that you can do those pretty much at any park I know it seems like a lot I have a damn exercise bike at right out there and I know I need to be building my muscles I literally don't have any the only reason I have a little bit back in my legs because I had to go to Florida and help my son move up here and he had mega steps up and down up and down with all the stuff but anyway I don't know how much you weigh before hand but it is not worth stressing your pouch I've had the sleeve done and who knew people have different shaped stomach sometimes there's actually several different ones I pretty much flipped out when I googled it but he and all of the bariatric surgeons are mandated and required to check the shape of everybody stomach prior to surgery and he did not do that with who knows probably none of his patients the surgeon who fixed me said I don't know why he didn't but we do end they keep track of you for the rest of your life but that first surgeon he did the cut for my sleeve and my stomach dropped and twisted almost shut and he would not listen when I kept trying to tell them there was something wrong I was regurgitating most of everything that I took in and if I was not the kind of person that if I couldn't find out by the doctors and they had no clue that I'm going to start researching what's going on with me so I was lucky enough to find out about the importance of thiamine which is vitamin B1 ... Because without that for specific amount of time and days there were two people same exact surgery that did not do the research and kept going back to the same idiot surgeon unfortunately in the hospice aim hospital and they both now cannot talk or walk and their in nursing homes ..I found an awesome surgeon that I knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix me but the only way to fix me is do a type of bypass but a shorter one okay but when he got into the side of me to do the surgery he said he could not believe how bad my stomach actually was twisted it was almost completely shut so he had to actually remove my stomach the rest of the stomach that was left from The cutting of the sleeve he said I should have never ever been offered sleeve because with the type of stomach I had there would have been no way to do it and I wasn't heavy enough at 2:33 really with my BMI to have a bypass and I wouldn't have had that anyway I wouldn't shows that I researched all my options prior to doing it begin with and that was not an option for me but in order for him to fix me that is the only thing that he was able to do and I had no choice so he made a itty bitty pause the size of an egg with the little part of some of the remaining sleeve before he had to remove it and I don't know how he did it but don't gain the weight this covered thing my personal opinion and I'm really sorry on some people don't agree I really don't share this much because it's not worth going into all stuff people it's kind of like talking politics LOL that's something you just don't do ... But I believe it's been blown out of proportion a little bit more then it needs to be maybe I'm wrong I do live in a small town in the country so it's not quite as bad as it is and I'm sure in certain States all that staying home and not working would have been necessary and doing it but not worldwide it just seems political it's definitely political... My point being don't allow the damn government to cause you to screw up everything you work so hard the gain or should I say lose... You've come too far before it gets too much more out of control if you don't want to search going up it goes fast and when you try to get it to go down it doesn't move so definitely protein vegetables fruit protein vegetables fruit avoid anything that has more than 9 grams of sugar in it and try to stay away from processed food just think healthy don't leave things out on your counter don't buy anything that you're not supposed to have at the store if you have the family that's going to be difficult but just try to remember using the small saucer for your portions anyway good luck with everything I've gone around John's barn on this one but sometimes we do that when we're talk texting lol stay safe much love good luck on your new life journey

A tip for the paper tape- leave it on for 5-7 days thru showering etc then take it off. Let your skin go a few hours with nothing then reapply new papertape. It is easier to remove the tape if it is wet. When you remove it pull the tape towards the incision so you are not tugging on the wound to remove the tape. If you happen to have an open area then skip tape over that spot so you can monitor it for signs of infection or irritation.

Congratulations 2Bsmaller! How are you doing? Are you happy with your results? Were you pleased with your surgeon? Where are you swelling? Do share a picture of the new you! ;] Four months out now - I really have not dealt with much swelling at all accept in the first two weeks. My surgeon enlisted two policies that she believes reduces swelling from day one. She kept the drains in until no more fluids accumulated. Some do not use drains. For me, that was 10 days. And, I was asked to wear the compression garments full time for as long as I could stand them thus, protecting the incisions and the contouring process. She actually had to tell me to take them off now worried about indentations in my skin! Haha. I grew quite fond of this suit of armor (while many hated it)! I felt safe, comfy and compact in it while the healing took place. Suffice to say, I wore it probably 10 + weeks out or more. With the COVID on set, my last follow-up appointment was cancelled and plan to re-schedule soon. I believe wearing the garments helped the scars in their quality recovery, too. You would never know the nipples were re-attached on the new perky breasts. Scaring just is not that noticeable to me at all. I will talk with her to see if we should address my loose neck skin - but that maybe just an age thing (61) and best left natural? Not sure. I did carry a lot of extra weight in my face with a predominant double chin. Will you engage in further plastics?

I’ve seen all of mini me in Tennessee’s videos too! Lol. I bought some of the patches and will try them, but honestly I don’t know that I’ll take the risk of them not working. They have great reviews, but I mostly for people saying they like having a patch option, Not necessarily commenting on their effectiveness , like “my blood work is great, I been taking these patches vs oral vitamins”. So I haven’t decided the plan yet. We’ll see what the nutritionist says. Im very concerned about my hair and skin, which I was surprised to hear was a common concern. I have a lot of hair, it’s “the one thing I got”; but I learned that many folk with weight struggles feel like that. I also don’t want to have artificial sweeteners because that can trigger sugar cravings and also make me gag, so the thought of doing that for a long time isn’t awesome for me. I have yet to find unflavored vitamins that aren’t in pill form.

I’ve seen all of mini me in Tennessee’s videos too! Lol. I bought some of the patches and will try them, but honestly I don’t know that I’ll take the risk of them not working. They have great reviews, but I mostly for people saying they like having a patch option, Not necessarily commenting on their effectiveness , like “my blood work is great, I been taking these patches vs oral vitamins”. So I haven’t decided the plan yet. We’ll see what the nutritionist says. Im very concerned about my hair and skin, which I was surprised to hear was a common concern. I have a lot of hair, it’s “the one thing I got”; but I learned that many folk with weight struggles feel like that. I also don’t want to have artificial sweeteners because that can trigger sugar cravings and also make me gag, so the thought of doing that for a long time isn’t awesome for me. I have yet to find unflavored vitamins that aren’t in pill form.

At 3 months, I was still swollen...I had the 3-month-pregnant look down pat. Now (5 months post-plastics), I look like I had a big meal, lol. Though there are still days that I get especially swollen/bloated and look pregnant again. My lower abdomen is quite hard and firm still from the swelling. Its not so bad when you look at me straight on, but from the side you can def see the bump. Like your surgeon, mine told me that I should see the final result in about a year. A year! As far as going down more inches at the waistline, I guess that depends if your current swelling is located there. My swelling is much lower, it starts a couple inches below my (new) belly button. In the first month post, my waistline measured 5.5 inches LARGER than the day of surgery. Around the 6 week mark, it went back the original size. As of today, it's 1 inch smaller than day of surgery (though I'm not sure if the decrease is because of the surgery or because of the crunches I do, lol). Mind you, I apparently didn't get alot of fat taken off...my doc said it was mostly just skin and the total weight of skin/tissue removed was a measly 400g across the THREE procedures he preformed. My scars are still pretty red. The arm scars are the worst of them, and have widened is certain areas. I knew this was a possibility, as I historically tend to scar badly. I was supposed to go in for some "scar maintenance" back March, but then Covid happened. It was/is supposed to be a combination of excising scar tissue and steroid shots. I'm not too keen about more cutting as I figure I may just scar again...we'll see. I've had silicone tape on pretty much 24/7 after all my wounds healed...dunno if it's working, but I like having them on because it keeps the itchiness at bay! Do you know if your surgeon is going to cut off existing scar tissue to address the folds/puckering? Will you be under general or local anesthesia?

@2Bsmaller18 thank you for the information I’ve been searching Amazon but get overwhelmed. I had this in my cart but wasn’t sure. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OV3M3AW/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=A7H37HS2706TH&psc=1 the links and tips help a lot! I didn’t think to skin test it first. Perhaps I will try doing paper tape, then silicone tape, then gel or cream ... at least on the areas that need it most or get the most tug from movement. I never used anything on any of my incisions before. But these are a lot more. I only have one from my gastric bypass that has a large hard lump underneath. I might ask the plastic surgeon if he can address it. when I feel in control, when I know what is happening ... I know what to do and I deal well with pain and things like this. I’ve had to do a lot of post op self care over the years ... But when things are chaos or questions without answers that’s when I lose it ...