Search the Community

I got 4 tops/blouses from Shein too this week... wasn't really happy with any of them tbh. Sizing inconsistent, thin cheap fabric on 2 of them. Thick stiff fabric on two others. One very gappy over my large bosom, and would be very low cut/ exposing without pinning or sewing it up.....another the buttons have fabric fastening loops which leave a vertical strip of no fabric and bare skin, definately not as pictured, nor work appropriate. Weird ... still worked out at $15Aud each top.. so it was worth trying, but only 1 is wearable for me.

nothing to take off there - it's all muscle and skin. It's just the way I'm built P.S. they did remove whatever excess skin was there (which didn't affect the measurement all that much), but there wasn't any fat to take off, so....couldn't really reduce the size of it very much.

Sophie, you're looking amazing! Did the doctor have a lot of muscle-tightening to do for your abdomen or was it primarily excess skin removal?

I had my sleeve surgery 3 years ago tomorrow, total loss is in the 160's. I didn't wake up one morning and just feel amazing, what it was more like for me was noticing little things that were no longer a hassle as I went day by day. Getting on the floor to play with the dogs, vacuuming, standing to wash dishes for a longer period of time. Realizing the new things I could do crept up on me more. I'll also say that I had to build up some strength as I was loosing weight too. I didn't realize how much proper posture would hurt as I taught my new body to use different muscles. It'll be a very exciting journey, enjoy it moment by moment as you discover all the new things you'll be able to accomplish.

first post chaps. I had my GS on 15th of Jan. So far ok. 8 days in. 2 days in hospital. Losing well and no real pain now and not been sick at all. Just a lot of burping still and still have loose bowel movements. Anyone else finding this? Was told by the dietician that I should progress a little early onto slightly bulkier soups, scrambled egg, etc to help with the diarrhea but still here now. Taking in about 550-650 cals a day, minimal carbs and almost no sugar. Anyhow, nice to join and hope to be an active member

K, here is my contribution to the conversation: 1) During and immediately after the weight loss, my neck was in serious turkey territory. At the time it was my number one priority for plastics. But over about 3-4 months after I stopped losing weight, my neck is significantly less gobble-gobbley. I've done nothing to it except maybe massage it every morning and night when applying my moisturizer. It is still not the best, but it is much better than before. And I'm 47 so my snap-back-young-skin days are behind me. Sooooo for those still in weight loss or just finishing, give it some time and you may see some improvement later on. 2) In the summer of 2018 (before WLS), I started a round of IPL and Laser to remove my freckles. First it totally works, and second, it had the bonus side effect of reducing the appearance of lines at the side of my eyes, between my eyebrows and to a lesser extend my nasolabial folds. I believe it has to do with the whole encouraging collegen growth. However, now with all the weight loss (and I haven't gone again since surgery), my wrinkles are back plus some. I paid $1000 CAD for 6 sessions. Sooooo, I can attest to the validity of IPL and Laser to address fine wrinkles, from personal experience (I dunno about RF though). 3) I think that no amount of-non surgical options will give the result of addressing nasolabial folds & neck sagging with any a degree of high effectiveness or permanence. With the exception of botox/fillers which have results, but not the permanence (and can actually cost you more in the long run). And I'm not sure botox/fillers would address neck sag? Anyway, that's my brain dump for y'all this morning. With that said, I already have a face lift to address neck & my NL folds (and maaaaabye a butt lift) on my wish list this year...but I dunno, I am sort of sick of surgery.

Hello All. I am scheduled for sleeve on January 30 with Dr. Udelhofen at Journeylite in Cincinnati, Oh. I am currently on a 21 day "liver shrinking diet" of lots of liquid proteins, no vegetables or fruits. I have completed all the pre op testing and paperwork, the only thing I don't have is a surgery time. I will only be staying at the surgery center for about four hours after the surgery- they make you walk, drink, and pee, then they cut you loose to a hotel for the night (because I live more than 1 1/2 hours from the center). If I have no questions or issues the next morning I am free to return home. The first two days of the diet were the worst, I was not tolerating the quantities of protein powder in the packets, so on day four I called them and they now allow me to have a few other things such as lowfat yogurt, cottage cheese, or a small portion of grilled chicken in place of a couple packets a day. I am currently experiencing a few days of extreme irritability. I don't know if it's the diet, the nerves, the fact that I am not sleeping well, or what. My questions right now are about Lovenox injections I have to take for 14 days after the procedure. Has anyone else had to do that and how difficult was it to inject yourself? I am slightly freaked out over that. Also, how soon have people been getting back to work? I feel like pain and healing wise I will be good to go after a week but I'm worried about throwing up at work when I am starting back on puree food.

Statistics Cost: $16,000 for BREAST LIFT AND FLEUR DE LIS STYLED TUMMY TUCK (saved up and self paid) Date: January 21, 2020 surgery date Surgeon: Dr. Dana Goldberg, Jupiter, Florida Three days before surgery Hibiclens antispetic showers and application of Mupirocin ointment. I ate my regular routine and variety of high quality salads, fresh fruits, nuts, veggies, baked seeded crackers (Firehook brand) with cheese nibbles along with hot tea/1% milk + 80 -100 oz. water per day. Day One Surgery 9:00am - 3:30pm yesterday. Was administered Experal, Valium (if needed) and Enoxaparin. Recovery time until 6:00 pm. Hubby takes me home and I'm in bed by 8:00 pm until 5:00am to empty pressurize drains (3) + urinate. Off balance a bit and slumped to the floor. Puppy to the rescue! Not a fall - just loopy and off balance a bit. Walked around the house with my walker device twice. Surgeon does not want me bent over but standing straight up. Day Two Today follow-up appointment at surgeons office 9:15am. Everything looked great and they were amazed with my healthy appearance. I believe this is attributable to clean and simple eating, water, no sugar or salt or little processed products. 5 pounds of skin was removed and I feel so much lighter! That puts me at 124! - Of course, after swelling and settling in the next weeks and months to follow maybe more.... I had them take a picture of the removed flesh. I see it fascinating, not morbid. After all, it was a part of me once. Got a glimpse of the girls aka. breasts today and I love them!!! Perky and pretty. No longer the inherited elongated missels downward from my mother and Aunt! Haha. Other supplements to help with pain + wound healing are daily Juven drink, Arnica, stool softener, Oxycodone graduating to Tylenol as needed. In other knee surgeries - I found keeping ahead of the pain was better than when in pain. Overall, so far, this whole process has been intriguing AND not as bad as I thought. Sensing a good premise of what's to follow. My compression garments and socks actually feel really good - stabilizing me + fit well. They placed pads between the stitches and garment. So far feeling not pinching or discomfort. We are having crispy cool whether and enjoyed a walk down the block with hubby and puppy this afternoon. Tonight Hubby's making our favorite navy bean soup with loads of veggies, cloves + baked ham cubes for flavor. He also made Chia pudding to die for made with vanilla, pear, orange, macadamia nuts, cacao powder... Nice winter recipes. Very excited and feel most fortunate to take this next step to what will become another game changer. I want my 60's to be a fabulous decade! Do hope all the ladies in our winterized plastics group continued best wishes and quality healing. Addie ;]

My RNY surgery is Monday and I'm starting to freak out. My surgeon is one of the best and I'm relatively healthy otherwise so I have no real reason to worry. I had an abdominalplasty (tummy tuck) to remove skin and fix diastasis rectis (separation of ab muscles) five years ago. I've also had multiple orthopedic surgeries (hockey) and my gall bladder removed so it's not the pain I'm worried about, pain I got lol. But because of the previous abdominal surgery I'm worried there will be too much scar tissue inside and not enough skin to "blow up my stomach cavity" and will have to have an open surgery, which is such a longer harder recovery. I guess I'm curious if anyone else has been in a similar situation? It seems everyone's recovery is so varied - some people are miserable and some are fine in days. I work from home in publishing and research so planned to work a few days after surgery (deadlines wait for no man lol). Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

My RNY surgery is Monday and I'm starting to freak out. My surgeon is one of the best and I'm relatively healthy otherwise so I have no real reason to worry. I had an abdominalplasty (tummy tuck) to remove skin and fix diastasis rectis (separation of an muscles) five years ago. I've also had multiple orthopedic surgeries (hockey) ansnmy gall bladder removed so it's not the pain I'm worried about, pain I got lol. But because of the previous abdominal surgery I'm worried there will be too much scar tissue inside and not enough skin to "blow up my stomach cavity" and have to have an open, which is such a longer harder recovery. I guess I'm curious if anyone else has been in a similar situation? It seems everyone's recovery is so varied - some people are miserable and some are fine in days. I work from home in publishing and research so planned to work a few days after surgery (deadlines wait for no man lol) Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I still have flabby skin....i lost slowly, and exercise daily. Mainly focusing on muscle building with some cardio. I have also tried every fad out there to try to tighten it up...sadly for me i think only winning the lottery will cure this jiggle🤣🤣🤣that way i can get surgery.

When you have lipo you have to use compression garments to help bind the skin back to the muscle layer for tissue regeneration to happen quicker & to prevent the amount of scar tissue developing in the space created by Lipo plus compression aims to prevent excess swelling However there are a few schools of thought on this, some surgeons say no need to wear compression wear beyond the first few day, my surgeon said binder for 2 weeks then progress to the Faja until you feel its no longer necessary, I already see how swollen I get and how quickly I happens if I don't compress (sides not abdomen... That's going to do what it wants for a while I noticed) I just ordered something less tight than my current Faja (which the vendor did tell me was the second tightest one you could get- sounded like a good idea when I was higher than a kite 😂... But now FML)

Awwwwww man, that's a bummer. I had noticeable results after mine and now that I'm home I can't seem to find anyone who does it in my area ... so I'm sad Ok try putting on compression gear immediately after the massage to see if that helps too. I was rewrapped in my binder immediately post massage. Everything was about softening the skin, moving the fluid, then compressing the F out of the area. I'm noticing now that I swell around the areas that are not compressed (like wearing a binder or corset) so I'm trying to keep my results uniform by wearing the Faja during the day and seamless shapewear to bed ... I need this South Beach body to show up 😂😭

I think you’ve earned it. If you have the resources, I say go for it. I appreciate reading your progress and updates. I don’t remember if I suggested it before, I find bio oil highly ineffective for scars, especially wound healing. Have you ever tried Tamanu oil? ”Used medicinally, Tamanu Oil works to reduce acne, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, scarring, ulcers, dryness, itchiness, scaly skin, body odor, fungal infections, rashes, sores, swelling, age spots, sunburn, stretch marks, cellulite, sciatica, rosacea, and foot odor” I just ordered some from a site www.okaypurenaturals.com shipping is free with $35 and you get a nice little bag. They have a very nice facial cream (night cream) their African black soaps are amazing too. of course as far as scar creams go usually Mederma is the best. I haven’t tried Tamanu for a fresh scar yet. with my highly sensitive skin I just bought more to try on skin abrasions, cuts and rashes and such. Which makes me desperately want skin removal especially my thighs. swelling is the harder thing to cope with. I hope it eases up soon and that your body settles nicely into its new shape.

Six weeks post op checking in! My LBL incision is progressing nicely. Starting 2 or so weeks ago, I started feeling/hearing some "pops" along my incision line. The internal sutures were giving way (like there were supposed to) and the raised pie crust incision was flat where I could feel he "pop". It was very satisfying to feel/hear/see that. I am now all flattened out except for a few inches the very front, on top of my mons. Weepiness at the crack continues. It is my biggest frustration. It seems to have stalled, and has not closed any amount that I can tell. I am considering pursuing some wound care locally to encourage healing. But anxious if my insurance will cover. I think a bill for a hyperbaric chamber would be sizable! Some good news, it's at least no longer smelly. I think the silver gauze has taken care of that at least. Breasts are progressing, slowly. My left has dropped significantly. It just needs to fall into the bottom fleshy part of my breast (called fluffing), and it will be complete. My right breast is stubbornly stuck high. I've been wearing a band a massaging periodically to encourage it to relax. It presents some unique wardrobe issues. Next week my professional dressing life starts again, which will be interesting. Swelling persists, ugh! Mine is pretty consistent, it never goes away, it just lessens occasionally. It's uncomfortable, and makes me feel like I am stretched and sore. I'm waiting on some super compression gear to arrive. My old faux spanx aren't up to the task. My swollen belly is hard vs, my extra skin belly was squishy. Further complicates dressing professionally. My incisions are still a bit scabby and crusty in spots. I'm holding off on scar tape for now. I have started using bio oil. I know it has a lot of proponent here and elsewhere. But I'm skeptical personally. It means something to me that silicone is the only proven scar treatment. Also, bio oil has a terrible old lady rose scent, gag. I started on my facial treatments I bought during the pre Xmas Goupon sale. First I did the laser resurfacing, as it should be a pretty major deal that take a week to recover from. Well, it was like absolutely nothing happened. So I'm working on getting a refund on that since they've given me the run around when I asked for a redo. I had Botox of my crows feet and filler in my nasolabial folds done yesterday. Botox was super fast and easy. It will take about a week to see the results. The filler was a little longer and more painful. I am surprised by how swollen and bruised I am. It is definitely not a lunch hour type procedure. But I think I'm going to really like those results once it settles in about a week. More vanity treatments planned for this week, hydrodermabrasian & eyelash extensions. I've gone down the rabbit hole I'm afraid!

Yes it is belly skin hanging down. It is from all the yo yo dieting. Can you recommend a website that does larger sizes. I can't seem to find anything on line it all seems to be post OP spanx

I use the chest high spanx panty with the highest level of support. I am presurg but have issues from a prior giant hernia removal. I'm assuming you are talking belly skin and not legs.

I am trying to lose more weight before my gastric surgery. I am struggling with the excess skin I have dangling between my legs it is getting infected and sore as it has no support it is like I have 3 legs it is nearly down past my knees. I can't exercise properly I feel disgusting and I am trying to get sorted before my daughters wedding in august. Can anyone recommend any proper support underwear that will lift and support the excess skin. No one seems to be able to help me and I am losing my battle with myself everyday

It depends on what YOUR goals are once you have lost the weight. For me, I looked (mostly) great in clothes, IMO. Lots of pics on the OOTD thread if you're interested. But naked, or in a bathing suit, not so much. I really wanted to be as happy as reasonably possible both in and out of clothes. So I knew going into WLS, that plastics was part of the process for me. In my case no amount of patience, exercise, toning, non surgical treatments etc would make me happy with my naked self. I had lost my breasts nearly entirely. I missed them, and wanted full breasts again, so I needed a breast augmentation. I had saggy skin on my stomach, hips and thighs. I had a lower body lift and 4.5 lbs of skin and tissue were removed (no lipo). Nothing short of surgery would have made that kind of difference. It's a very individual decision. There is no right or wrong answer. You have the balance how you feel about your appearance against the pain, scars, risks and expense of plastics.

I lost slowly too. The upsides to this is that you skin loves you for it. You will lose weight, just listen to your doctors!

I work in a hospital lab and in the old days we measured potassium on an instrument called a flame photometer. As the name implies, there is fire involved. Well, we were having trouble getting the flame lit, and as I was looking down the instrument to see if there were any blockages my coworker tried yet again to light the flame. Well, a HUGE fireball exploded right in my face. Burnt off my eyebrows and eyelashes without burning my skin. So I am familiar with that burnt hair smell. This happened about 40 years ago, and I can still remember the way my eyebrows smelled!

Waiting for insurance approval to have surgery to remove the extra skin. Please pray it comes through soon.

I was shown the easy way to test dehydration by an old time doctor in the Bahamas years ago. Just pinch the skin on the back of your hand and lift up, then release. if you instantly can't tell where your grabbed you skin, I.e. It snaps back into perfect place, you are fine. If however the skin drops a bit slowly or stays even slightly elevated for a second, you are dehydrated. if you are dehydrated , drink a 32oz Zero. If not, just drink regular water, and at least one zero a day.

I wasn't trying to be argumentative I was just trying to say what is working for my surgeon and I. I don't want to drop weight to fast and make my immune system drop with it. When I was in the Navy bootcamp I lost weight so fast I was getting sick constantly. I rather loose a little slower. I'm not planning on increasing the oz of food from where I currently am now. As I said; everyone is different and has different goals.

I personally wasn't loosing weight till I took my calories from 600 to 800 calories a day then finally the scale started sliding down. As far as salty, I make my own smoked beef jerky so the salt content is minimal compared to store bought jerky. I still have a lot of muscle mass under my fat layer, it needs to be fed also so I can keep it. I dropped 57lbs or so before surgery. So what I'm doing is working for me and my surgeon. Everyone is different.