Hello friends,

I am still awaiting my psych appt., nutrition, consult with doc, and hope to be banded mid November. OK, I have a totally new fear I am hoping someone can help me with. My insurance does not cover this operation or any complications that may arise. That is scary enough but then... I heard someone say that they had lost 100 pounds and had to pay an enormous fortune in plastic surgery to fix all of the loose skin! I don't have an enormous fortune, In fact I am taking out a loan for surgery! Does anyone know anything about this?

K

Benson, I posted the following response to this question on your other thread as well, but I just found this one so I will post it here, too:

Well, what do you think happens when you lose weight? Your skin is loose. A few people do not need plastic surgery. But then again, you do not HAVE to have PS, you can just wear girdles if need be. There is no way to tighten SKIN. You can tighten underlying muscle with exercise, and that may make skin look better. Some people gained their weight evenly all over their bodies and didn't stretch their skin too much in one area. No one can predict what will happen after you have lost the weight. I know I will need PS, no way to avoid it with 200lbs to lose. With a BMI of 38, you might not need much, but only time will tell.

But you know what? I'm not going to worry about that now. What's the point? Would I stay fat just to avoid possible PS? That would be idiotic. I have already told myself that when I get within about 40 lbs of whatever goal I decide, I have to be there for at least one year before I get PS. I want to see what my body will do on it's own. Then that gives me a year to investigate surgeons and save money.

Just work on the now. The Band is the first step in a long journey.

FaithMD,

You sound like a wise woman/man? I am going to take your advice! Yea, one step at a time, why borrow trouble I owe you a hug! Yes, most of my weight is from pregnancy so I will have excess stomache skin for sure. Are you a doctor? Have you read any of my other threads or posts? I am pretty new and so excited to find this land of beautiful people, that alone makes my decision worthwhile. I plan on hanging around this board for a long time, I would love to keep up the correspondence :ranger:

well, have to return to writing a very lengthy report! Thanks again,

K

The reality is that you already have excess skin, it's just full of fat right now. You can hide 90% of excess skin with clothing but you can only hide 10% of excess fat with clothes.

You aren't going to get more excess skin than you already have by losing weight. I think sometimes we just kinda need to put this in perspective.