I'm starting to begin the process of looking into plastic surgery. I started at a high weight of 470 pounds and am down to 248. I really haven't set a goal weight. My surgeon says 210 so I guess that's as good as any. I imagine I got close to 20 pounds in loose skin so with that removed I'm pretty close to goal. I have no idea how to get the process started and when I should? Under my arms is pretty bad. I would also like to do my chest, stomach and thighs/butt. I have a lot of bulges in my thighs from veins. Could those be removed? What is the recovery time and how bad was it? Do they do everything at once? What about insurance coverage? I know it's mostly women in this forum but hopefully some guys can chip in too.

I met with several PS for consultations Not one charged for the consult. They varied dramatically. All stated the need to be at goal as losing or gaining weight after surgery changes the results. I had a LBL with bum and breast reconstruction I am female -7 weeks ago. My PS will not combine inner thighs and arms with the bundle I had as the skin tightening would pull different directions increasing the rest of the wound separation deterioration . I was in hospital in USA for 1 night and took 24 days off from work including weekends. No insurance coverage and I did not even try. I know my policy well. The bundle was 23 k in all. Thighs and arms will be another day another dime [emoji16]. The surgery lasted about 11 hours. The pain was intense. I am feeling 90 percent back to self.
Know what you want and your goals. I chose this because it targeted areas of discomfort. You can find before and after pictures on many websites. Also in my consults I reviewed before and after pictures of each surgeon. I wanted specifically to know how many after weight-loss patients the surgeon had operated on. Also many people have posted before and after here and on the website for real self. Best of luck to you


Stella

Usually surgeons like you to be a year out and maintaining. As Stella said, they might do a few things at once (I had the below done all at once.) However my surgeon wouldn't do the thigh lift at the same time, as that would have been risky with me also having an extended TT. My pain was minimal and I didn't need pain relief after a few days.

Don't just go with the first surgeon you see, research them and make sure you are happy with your weight before deciding to have skin surgery.

Kate

I didn't start as high as you but I suggest you keep losing. You really want to be as low as possible. Even though I am flabby and loose there is still fat attached to this skin. True loose skin is just empty skin. You will get the best results the lower your weight because they can only remove so much without sending you into shock.

I know excess skin is terrible to deal with. I live with it every day. Still each day I am under 200 pounds I see more and more rebounding and improvements. Originally I wanted to go for surgery asap but now I think I might bottom out on weight and wait at 6 months h from then. I hate the idea of living with this skin that much longer but I am actually seeing the logic in it. Also I still don't quite have my BMI lowith enough for plastics anyway.

I know it sucks but try to get at least to 30 BMI before surgery.

Edited February 11, 20179 yr by OutsideMatchInside

The veins can be taken care of at any time, as it is a separate procedure to the skin removal. There are a few different vein procedures, just google varicose vein treatment to give you an idea...

I have an issue with this, but need to lose weight first. (My legs are huge, and the compression pantyhose would be virtually impossible for me to wear).

Sent from my SM-N920R4 using BariatricPal mobile app

My BMI was below 20 and fat percentage about 15 when I went in This meant it really was a skin thing. I did lose a couple miles NS stretch marks [emoji18]

I had Abdominoplasty / tummy tuck on Feb 6th and had my one week follow up today. It's the first time I got to look at it and wow. I love it!! Yes I have a cut from hip to hip and they only removed one drain along with every other staple today but the incision was pulled together flat tight and perfect. The right drain line was removed and that was FAR less painful than the tape removal.

I am so pleased!! I go back in a week+ and the other staples with drain will be removed. I have hip bones, expect flat sides, which I really wanted , and a cute belly button. I didn't need much pain meds and except for the last two days of tape itching I've been great. A pull on the drains were uncomfortable at times but I just changed positions.

My sleeve surgeon also does tucks for his patients at a cash price far below anywhere else (plastic surgeons) that I could get to return my calls.

He only does tucks and no other procedure I.e. Breast, legs, or arm lifts.

i am 62 and debated the surgery the last 18 months from my sleeve date; however older ladies it IS so worth doing for yourself! No one may ever see it but hubby and I and that is just fine by me. I no longer expect to be pushing skin into a stretch "Cami" or slimming underwear but I also won't be getting sores under tummy hang over either.

I wish i could throw myself into a dryer and "shrink" all my other loose hanging skin. But I will take this with a huge smile on my face.

write if you have questions???

I wish i could throw myself into a dryer and "shrink" all my other loose hanging skin. But I will take this with a huge smile on my face.

Lol. That just might be a multi billion dollar idea somehow! . Happy for you. Enjoy your new tummy!!!

Enjoy! I like the tight skin where I can not grab the inside of bones! I had not heard of bariatric MD doing tucks new information for me!

Stella S. We started out and ended up about the same weights, great jobs

On 2/14/2017 at 7:10 PM, Newme17 said:

Lol. That just might be a multi billion dollar idea somehow! . Happy for you. Enjoy your new tummy!!!

We rocked it!! More Twinses! [emoji6]

I was celebrating to soon. Had tummy tuck Feb 6 th everything was going great then my incision split open on my left side. I went to Urgent Care they sent me on to the hospital. We went all the way to the hospital area that did my surgery and all they would do is steri strip my wound. I asked for antibiotics and they said no. My dr was not on call so the other dr did nothing. It started at 9 am got home around 3:30 pm. They didnt even clean the area. Went home, no fever the following day I thought it was going to heal. Spoke to drs office and got an appointment for the 30th. Then I started to ache like with flu and running a fever. Had my husband check my wound again as it at the back of my waist. It hard green puss so called the surgeon's office again, got in he didn't think much about it, he pulled out a suture out of the hole and I finally got antibodies on 3/21/2017. I'm in severe pain at the wound and my stomach is swollen and hard!!

i got blood work up today and made an appointment with my GP for next Tuesday with the surgeon appointment on Thursday. I'm in so much pain, I just called the drs office just now. I've been trying to wait for the antibiotics to kick in but my hard stomach is a killer. So now I may have to go into the surgeon's office again tomorrow- I'm sitting here in more pain than I was in after the full tummy tuck and needing painkillers that I rarely took then. Just got a call I have to go back again tomorrow over an hour plus drive through KC to Kansas to the surgeon's office and they are making me see the dr that blew me off at the hospital 2 weeks ago. Yippee skippeeee

Glad you have a plan. Wound healing is scary. Did the muscle split or the skin? Take care

I visited my surgeon today. He told me to stop losing weight and time to maintain. He brought up plastic surgery and referred me to a plastic surgeon. Going to do a consultation with the plastic surgeon. What should I expect at the consultation? Is this where I get naked and the doctor draws on me? If that is the case, I have a question for the men. This doctor is a female doctor. She's also very attractive. Certain things may spring into action. How do you guys handle this?

How bad is the recovery? It seems like it's worse than the sleeve surgery but my sleeve surgery recovery wasn't bad at all. What are my chances insurance will cover it?

I've been wondering about this.......How do you STOP losing weight?