I’m now 18 lbs from goal, which if I continue on my trend I should hit in October. I want a lower body lift, arm lift, and breast lift done. I met with two surgeons today, and have a third consult next week. I was very surprised in the different opinions/approaches of the two doctors today. Both were very nice, personable, and professional and per their photos have good results and good reviews online. Here’s what they had to say:

Arm lift:
Doc #1 said he could do all three procedures on the same day. He said my arms would have a great outcome, would require a compression garment for 2-4 weeks, each would have a drain in for the first 7 days.
Doc #2 does arm lifts as an in office procedure under local anesthesia only! Internal sutures only with minimal steri strips, NO compression garment, said he often has people return to work after just a day or two off!

Breast lift:
Doc #1 pushed hard for implants, which I don’t want and don’t think I need. I’m a 36DD right now and wouldn’t mind if the tissue removed from the lift dropped me a cup size. He would do the lift/implant same surgery as the other procedures.

Doc #2 agreed my breast size is fine, and would look great with just a lift. He would do the lift along with the LBL.

Lower body lift:

Doc #1 said he’d do a belt lipectomy and would leave in a drain on each side.

Doc #2 said I don’t need a belt lipectomy, just a extended hip-to-hip incision. Again, NO drains. He uses a quilted internal stitching technique which he said reduces drainage to nearly none.

Doc #2 is who I am leaning towards. He has about 10 years more experience. Sounds like his recoveries are quicker and easier. I’d say their photo results and reviews are on par with each other. The quote for Doc #2 was about $6000 less ($40,000 vs $34,000).

Both doctors agreed a December/January planned surgery time frame is reasonable.

I’m so excited to be starting down this road! Hopefully after my third consultation on Thursday I come away with a clear preference.

I’ll update this thread as I go along.

Bat wing photo for reference, I’ve lost about 10 more pounds since this was taken.

Welcome to the next level ! SUPER excited for you ❤

Update:

I had a virtual consult today with a Dr. in Port St. Lucie, FL. I found him after doing an extensive search of before/after arm photos on Real Self. His results are amazing! He talked me through why, he uses a very specific technique that seems to give really good results. He seems a bit more conservative than Dr. #1 from my first post. He won't do all 3 procedures at once, reason being he seems to spend a good deal more time on each procedure and won't keep his patients under anesthesia for extended periods of time. I have one more local consult tomorrow, and have requested another virtual consult with another team in Fl. At this point I'm leaning strongly towards Dr. #3 in Fl, as he took so much time with me today, was very very thorough with his explanations and had very impressive reviews and photos on Real Self, his website, and has been mentioned several times in FB groups I'm on. I'm still a bit scared of flying soon after surgery, but I also want to go with someone I'm 100% comfortable with. I shooting for a surgery date right after New Years, so want to get this on the books.

Edit to add: If I end up going with Dr. #3 I’ll have my arm lift & extended tummy tuck in January, and wait until a later date for my breast lift (maybe with augmentation). The girls look ok if I’m wearing a good bra, they can wait ?

49 minutes ago, kristieshannon said:

Update:

I had a virtual consult today with a Dr. in Port St. Lucie, FL. I found him after doing an extensive search of before/after arm photos on Real Self. His results are amazing! He talked me through why, he uses a very specific technique that seems to give really good results. He seems a bit more conservative than Dr. #1 from my first post. He won't do all 3 procedures at once, reason being he seems to spend a good deal more time on each procedure and won't keep his patients under anesthesia for extended periods of time. I have one more local consult tomorrow, and have requested another virtual consult with another team in Fl. At this point I'm leaning strongly towards Dr. #3 in Fl, as he took so much time with me today, was very very thorough with his explanations and had very impressive reviews and photos on Real Self, his website, and has been mentioned several times in FB groups I'm on. I'm still a bit scared of flying soon after surgery, but I also want to go with someone I'm 100% comfortable with. I shooting for a surgery date right after New Years, so want to get this on the books.

my plastic surgeon wasn't willing to keep patients under anesthesia for more than six hours, so my procedures were divided into two surgeries. He felt it was risky - but I was good with that. I didn't particularly want some tired guy coming at me with a knife (!). Some are OK with going longer - some not.

Today was what I think will be my last consult. Planning to go with the doc in Port St. Lucie. However, today's visit left me quite emotional. The doctor poked, prodded, pinched (gently!) my abdomen, arms, and thighs. He asked "how much more weight do you think you need to lose?" When I told him my bariatric surgeon and I set a goal weight of 160 he said "nope. No more. You're done. All you have left is loose skin, no fat. You'll lose those last 16 during surgery!" I was stunned! He told me to stop restricting intake as of today, and to try to get my protein up from 70-80g/day to 100g/day in prep for surgery. I burst in to tears and felt so silly! This has been such a long journey for me, and although it was on my radar that I'm getting close it was shocking to hear him call "done". I've got my 1 year follow up with my surgeon next month, will be waiting to consult with her and my nutritionist. I feel like I need some time to process this!

20 minutes ago, kristieshannon said:

Today was what I think will be my last consult. Planning to go with the doc in Port St. Lucie. However, today's visit left me quite emotional. The doctor poked, prodded, pinched (gently!) my abdomen, arms, and thighs. He asked "how much more weight do you think you need to lose?" When I told him my bariatric surgeon and I set a goal weight of 160 he said "nope. No more. You're done. All you have left is loose skin, no fat. You'll lose those last 16 during surgery!" I was stunned! He told me to stop restricting intake as of today, and to try to get my Protein up from 70-80g/day to 100g/day in prep for surgery. I burst in to tears and felt so silly! This has been such a long journey for me, and although it was on my radar that I'm getting close it was shocking to hear him call "done". I've got my 1 year follow up with my surgeon next month, will be waiting to consult with her and my nutritionist. I feel like I need some time to process this!

I had DEXAscan at 146 lbs. I wanted to know how much more i should lose. The tech said none.... my body fat was at 22%, which is low for a woman. I was shocked... and ecstatic! I thought for sure I'd have to lose another 15 lbs! So yes... it's great to be told that!!

On 07/02/2020 at 14:16, catwoman7 said:

I had DEXAscan at 146 lbs. I wanted to know how much more i should lose. The tech said none.... my body fat was at 22%, which is low for a woman. I was shocked... and ecstatic! I thought for sure I'd have to lose another 15 lbs! So yes... it's great to be told that!!

Thank you, that’s a great idea! I’ll see if my PCP or VSG surgeon will order one.

23 hours ago, kristieshannon said:

Update:

I had a virtual consult today with a Dr. in Port St. Lucie, FL. I found him after doing an extensive search of before/after arm photos on Real Self. His results are amazing! He talked me through why, he uses a very specific technique that seems to give really good results. He seems a bit more conservative than Dr. #1 from my first post. He won't do all 3 procedures at once, reason being he seems to spend a good deal more time on each procedure and won't keep his patients under anesthesia for extended periods of time. I have one more local consult tomorrow, and have requested another virtual consult with another team in Fl. At this point I'm leaning strongly towards Dr. #3 in Fl, as he took so much time with me today, was very very thorough with his explanations and had very impressive reviews and photos on Real Self, his website, and has been mentioned several times in FB groups I'm on. I'm still a bit scared of flying soon after surgery, but I also want to go with someone I'm 100% comfortable with. I shooting for a surgery date right after New Years, so want to get this on the books.

Edit to add: If I end up going with Dr. #3 I’ll have my arm lift & extended Tummy Tuck in January, and wait until a later date for my breast lift (maybe with augmentation). The girls look ok if I’m wearing a good bra, they can wait ?

Do you mind sharing the name of the doctor with the great arm lift results? I might want an arm lift in the future! Thanks!

Sure, Dr. Vinyard in Port St. Lucie.

45 minutes ago, kristieshannon said:

Thank you, that’s a great idea! I’ll see if my PCP or VSG surgeon will order one.

you don't want one of those - the medical ones only give you bone density. To get additional information, like body composition (percentage of fat, bone, muscle, etc), you have to get a commercial one or go to something like a sports lab at a university. The commercial places have names like "DEXAFit", and they run around $150. The ones at universities, when they have them, are sometimes cheaper. It's the same equipment as they have in medical offices, you just get more information from them.

Ah, ok. I’ll check that out, see if we have one near me. I actually work for a University Medical Center so May have one available somewhere around work.

I’m booked! After what feels like an exhaustive search (I had consults with 4 local doctors here in Seattle and 3 in Florida) I have chosen Dr. Earle in Miami and am booked for an arm lift, breast lift & augmentation and extended tummy tuck on January 14. Now to find a good AirBnB, book my flights, and drop the last 12 pounds to go until goal! I’m so glad that this will my last summer not feeling comfortable in short sleeves :)

1 hour ago, kristieshannon said:

I’m booked! After what feels like an exhaustive search (I had consults with 4 local doctors here in Seattle and 3 in Florida) I have chosen Dr. Earle in Miami and am booked for an arm lift, breast lift & augmentation and extended Tummy Tuck on January 14. Now to find a good AirBnB, book my flights, and drop the last 12 pounds to go until goal! I’m so glad that this will my last summer not feeling comfortable in short sleeves

Congrats on booking!!!! My surgery is in Miami on Jan 12th, so I'll be thinking of you!!!!

Surgery twins :)

Good luck with your 3rd consult. There are FB forums for plastic surgery and you can post to see who went where and if they had a good outcome. That usually helps me make a decision or go to get another consult. Make sure whoever you pick has experience with weight loss patients AND is board certified.

On 07/27/2021 at 00:05, Sandee29 said:

Good luck with your 3rd consult. There are FB forums for plastic surgery and you can post to see who went where and if they had a good outcome. That usually helps me make a decision or go to get another consult. Make sure whoever you pick has experience with weight loss patients AND is board certified.

This is an old thread :) I had my surgery back in January! Feeling great & loving how it all turned out.