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.

My ass seems to have come out better than I thought. I'm not used to having a normal ass. To me it was just one cheek with a crack in it. Not used to have two separate cheeks. I don't know why this is an adjustment for me.

Just now seeing your post. Congratulations on the weight loss. Hope your surgery and healing are going excellent. Please post after pics following recovery! [emoji4]

Or if you want, feel free to post current pics!

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I'l post some pics when I get these drains out. It's hard to take good pics wearing a binder and having these drains hanging out.

The numbness around my waist is weird and will take some time to get used to. When I remove the binder, it almost feels as if I'm still wearing it. Still not sure I will have these drains out by Tuesday. There really hasn't been any pain but some soreness in the tail bone area when I sit.

Got two drains out but still have one left. This last one seems stubborn.

Hope your recovery continues well and you're thrilled with your results. I know it was the best decision for me

On 9/7/2017 at 0:27 PM, sgc said:

Surgery is tomorrow. I leave with some before photos. Not having the chest done yet. Doing a tummy tuck and lower body lift.

Two weeks now and I finally got some after pics. Stomach is obviously still swollen and I still have one drain in.

Wow looks great already! The side view especially, huge difference.

Thank you for sharing. Are you pleased so far?

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I am pleased. My stomach is still pretty flat despite the swelling. Backside is also better than I thought. Finally have a normal waistline.

So glad things have gone so well for you :-)

When the swelling is all gone - You will look great!!

Nearly three weeks and this last drain doesn't seem close to coming out yet. My stomach is still pretty swollen. With all this fluid from this last remaining drain, I hope I don't develop a seroma in my stomach.

It's weird to me when people in USA etc have drains in for so long - I never had any of my drains in for more than 3 days when I was going through my operations. And I had no problems from that - I guess different countries do things in vastly different ways.

Glad you are doing so well :-)

Doctor said it cannot be removed until the output reaches a certain level and it just isn't close to reaching it yet.

To be honest I don't remember what the levels were - I did not look.

I just remember - Had op on Thursday - Came out on Saturday or Sunday - Drains removed on that day and go immediately in to compression garments as soon as the drains are out. In this country we do not go home with drains in. I guess they are different there... Only once do I remember having a very small something he said was a 'possible seroma' but it was so small it sorted itself out and was not a problem.

I cannot imagine having drains in for so long.