Do any of you have issues with airport security screening since surgery?

I light up the body scan device like a Christmas tree, resulting in an extremely intimate physical screening. And it happens every single time!

My abdomen is always lit up. Could be staples? Could be excess skin!

But what's even weirder is I also get random other areas. Today it was my shoulder. I've even had it light up on my freakin' forehead!!!

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this as I don't recall seeing any topics on it as I've been reading the forum posts over the last year.

And I don't think it's a common thing as I even had one TSA agent look at the scan results and say "Holy Crap!"

I fly fairly often and this never happened a single time before my surgery and resulting weight loss. Now it's 100%. Looks like I'm going to have to get Global Entry or Nexus or something so I can get pre-check every time. I have no issue with metal detectors.

(edited for typos)

Edited January 8, 20179 yr by msujester

Here is my funny story. I had back surgery in 2004 and I have cadaver bones and metal in my back. So my Surgeon gave me my X-rays and told me that if and when I flew I had to have them with me. So here we go with full arms, (of course I had Protein drinks and Water bottles in my carry on) with them in tow. Well, they made me throw away our Protein Drinks and our WATER!!! For the Love of what is right a WLS person's water!! I tried to give them my X-rays but they said they didn't need them. So as I went thru all HELL broke loose, which made them need to pat me down. (At least it was a woman) I was so embarrassed. Then he looked at my ID and looked me up and down 4 times then he said, "You look good" every time he looked at me. I was getting a little uncomfortable. Since I didn't need those DARN X-rays I threw them in the trash. I didn't mind that but WHY did THEY need to take our protein and water!! LOL As you can probably tell we don't get out much!! LOL I hope we don't need to fly gain.

yes - I set off the scanner every time. Someone on another board said it's the excess skin.

I'm getting TSA pre check before I fly next!

I just realized this was double posted somehow. Sorry about the duplicate. BP was acting funny and it took several minutes for this post to go through. Now it looks like it somehow posted twice.

Edited January 9, 20179 yr by msujester

Sweat, loose clothes, loose skin, cleavage, braids - the ACLU just went after them for getting all up in black women's hair. Those stupid things have an unbelievable false positive rate. They're basically total crap, so anything they can't figure out - like less than perky breasts - means you get felt up by your not-so-friendly TSA agent. After my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer I had to fly SEA to DFW quite a bit. Thing lit up like a Christmas tree Every. Single. Time. Under the breasts; between the breasts; under the belly; up, down and around the thighs all the way up the crotch.

Ugh. It was just extremely upsetting. God knew I'd had all I could take - the flight home after the funeral, my 13 yr old got random TSA pre-check and I got to join her in the past. You know - where you leave your shoes on and just walk through a metal detector like a real person instead of being treated like a prisoner during lockdown?

So as soon as I got back (and calmed down) my honey and I applied for those newfangled Nexus cards. They come with Pre check, global entry, and the use of the fast lane across the Canadian border. So worth it!

I really hate having to pay to not get groped, but I still recommend getting a card if you travel much and/or set off those giant pieces of security theater.

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I just realized this was double posted somehow. Sorry about the duplicate. BP was acting funny and it took several minutes for this post to go through. Now it looks like it somehow posted twice.

The TSA is probably on the way to your house right now to deal with this issue of double posting.

Sweat and extra skin will set off the body scanners, the staples are not metalic so that won't be a problem.

Probably excess skin/scar tissue reading as a different density on the scanner. I have bad lymphedema on the lower part of my left leg and it sets it off EVERY SINGLE TIME and I have to get the pat down in that area.

I have stainless screws in my hip and never set off the screening.
I would be surprised if a few staples would do it.
Did the Dr leave a few instruments in there? HA

Do you have to supply your own white rubber gloves for the cavity check?

Edited January 9, 20179 yr by RJC5197

Thank you I thought I was the only one, I always get flagged for my inner thighs and have to be patted down.

My surgery was Feb. 2015 and I have had the same experience! I fly fairly often and every time I have to go through the scanner, it lights up and I get patted down. I jokingly asked my surgeon if he left an instrument in there. The TSA people swear that the machine only detects surface metal and that surgery should not affect it. But I never tripped the sensors before my surgery, and now I do regularly.

I have metal hips and of course, I can't go through the regular scanner as I set it off every time. So I go through the body scanner and there are always areas that light up other than my hips so pat down, here we go again. I must say that as I know this will happen, I don't make it a big deal...and never have had an issue with a TSA agent. They pat me down...yes, some more thoroughly than others. They always ask if I want to do this in a private room...which I say no to...they run that paper up and down my hands...they're looking for residue related to bomb making. Who knew? I asked a TSA agent about it and she told me. Then I'm on my way. At this point having had the hips replaced three years ago, it is what it is.

Too bad no one thought guns going through checked luggage might be a bad idea. Yup...I'm at the Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale airport several times a year and it was nothing more than timing that I wasn't there when he decided it was target practice time on innocent people.

I am flying soon and only taking carry on. I of course need to bring Protein with me. Suggestions on how to pack my GENEPRO? I don't want to bring the entire 90 serving container.

DS surgery 12/14/2016

Too bad no one thought guns going through checked luggage might be a bad idea. Yup...I'm at the Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale airport several times a year and it was nothing more than timing that I wasn't there when he decided it was target practice time on innocent people.

I am going to respectfully disagree with you on this. There are dozens of millions of us who are legal gun owners and carriers who have criminal records that are... nonexistent. We are among the most law abiding of citizens out there. We are among the least likely to break the law. Yet we are maligned every time something like this happens. There is no law, no rule, that prevents people like this from doing what they will. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The proof of that is the fact that every time one of them shows up, who gets called? The cops.

Cops are not special, they are not superior humans. They are just people like the rest of us who have decided to make protecting the rest of us their life's work. But they cannot be everywhere all the time. I have carried my gun everywhere it is legal for well over 25 years. There have been three times in those years where its presence has protected myself or others. I have never shot anyone, or even threatened to shoot anyone. But in all cases, ill intent was thwarted. If someone else had been legally carrying at that airport, it may be that more people would have lived. We do not know. There are no promises in life. But I prefer taking a chance with my gun over cringing and screaming any day of the week.

I am flying soon and only taking carry on. I of course need to bring Protein with me. Suggestions on how to pack my GENEPRO? I don't want to bring the entire 90 serving container.

DS surgery 12/14/2016

I can tell you right now, don't put your servings in a ziplock baggy. You'll be sure to get special treatment if you do. Perhaps you could put most of it in something else and take the can, or at the least, peel the label off and stick it in with whatever container you decide to use. But don't count on the perspicacity of the TSA to understand what you have and what you are doing with it.