Hello I am close to being 9 months post op. I recently began discussing getting plastic surgery with my husband, and parents. They are all trying to talk me out of it. They think it isn't necessary because they think I do not have enough extra skin, I am too old (52 this yr.), I will be in too much pain, etc. I am getting frustrated with them, and won't talk to them about it anymore. I know its my body, and I can do what I want, but it would be nice if I had the support from them. What, if anything can I do to gain their support? Have any of you dealt with this before?

Many years ago, I lost 50+ lbs and had lots of extra skin. I took my husband to the drs consult so he could hear the benefits. The biggest benefit besides not having skin on top of skin was I wanted to feel better about my body. Sometimes we aren't selfish (not a bad word) for ourselves. I was so busy taking care of others, I wasn't focusing on me. I made a list of pros and cons and then had a very adult conversation with those that mattered as to the why. I had full support after doing this process. Interestingly enough, one of our closest friends followed me as well in having surgery and we became each others support buddy. Ask the dr if he has anyone considering similar surgery from WLS and give your information to him/her to give to the person. Also, ask on her for a support buddy. This site is great for assistance. Once I am 18 months out, I will be looking at plastic surgery again.

I am 58 and about to go for my last surgery. I am 9 years out of my lap band surgery and on my best day I am down almost 70 lbs. I’ve had it all done, breast lift with aug, tummy tuck, and a revision, lower body lift, and many rounds of Lipo. I started with plastic work around 2 years after surgery. I say wait a little while and get close to your goal weight. This is a personal decision. Do not listen to others that have not had the experience. No one else sees or feels the way you do when you look in the mirror. You lose weight and see all the imperfections and want to correct them. Nothing wrong with that. The pain is tolerable and well worth the result. Interview many Doctors and do your research. Find one that you are comfortable with and drag your hubs there to listen and see. He will change his mind. My parents weren’t on board but could see how much happier I was with myself. In the long run, we are all pleased. Good luck.

a lot of people (maybe most?) have plastic surgery in their 50s and 60s, so you're not too old. It's your body, so... Sorry to hear they're not being more supportive. That's a tough one.

10 hours ago, GaGirlGettingHealthy said:

Many years ago, I lost 50+ lbs and had lots of extra skin. I took my husband to the drs consult so he could hear the benefits. The biggest benefit besides not having skin on top of skin was I wanted to feel better about my body. Sometimes we aren't selfish (not a bad word) for ourselves. I was so busy taking care of others, I wasn't focusing on me. I made a list of pros and cons and then had a very adult conversation with those that mattered as to the why. I had full support after doing this process. Interestingly enough, one of our closest friends followed me as well in having surgery and we became each others support buddy. Ask the dr if he has anyone considering similar surgery from WLS and give your information to him/her to give to the person. Also, ask on her for a support buddy. This site is great for assistance. Once I am 18 months out, I will be looking at plastic surgery again.

Thank you for this advice.

10 hours ago, Tashaplus3 said:

I am 58 and about to go for my last surgery. I am 9 years out of my lap band surgery and on my best day I am down almost 70 lbs. I’ve had it all done, breast lift with aug, Tummy Tuck, and a revision, lower body lift, and many rounds of Lipo. I started with plastic work around 2 years after surgery. I say wait a little while and get close to your goal weight. This is a personal decision. Do not listen to others that have not had the experience. No one else sees or feels the way you do when you look in the mirror. You lose weight and see all the imperfections and want to correct them. Nothing wrong with that. The pain is tolerable and well worth the result. Interview many Doctors and do your research. Find one that you are comfortable with and drag your hubs there to listen and see. He will change his mind. My parents weren’t on board but could see how much happier I was with myself. In the long run, we are all pleased. Good luck.

A lot of people said the pain is tolerable, but I am wondering if they say that because they take pain meds? I can not take those, I can only take Tylenol so that part worries me.

9 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

a lot of people (maybe most?) have plastic surgery in their 50s and 60s, so you're not too old. It's your body, so... Sorry to hear they're not being more supportive. That's a tough one.

Thank you.

On 05/16/2021 at 18:05, HealthyLifeStyle said:

A lot of people said the pain is tolerable, but I am wondering if they say that because they take pain meds? I can not take those, I can only take Tylenol so that part worries me.

Hey! So I had PS back in Jan. I’ll be post sleeve 3 years in July.
As far as pain I think it was only a few days that were the worst. Other than that I took Tylenol. Everyone’s threshold for pain is diff. Looking back could I have gone w just the Tylenol-maybe. No recreates what so ever. It’s def a journey and support helps. I found PS buddies on this website and I have found that super helpful. You really make a new friend while sharing the experience together and being able to bounce thoughts and questions off eachother.
Keep us updated on what you decide to do?

On 5/17/2021 at 8:42 AM, Kris77 said:

Hey! So I had PS back in Jan. I’ll be post sleeve 3 years in July.
As far as pain I think it was only a few days that were the worst. Other than that I took Tylenol. Everyone’s threshold for pain is diff. Looking back could I have gone w just the Tylenol-maybe. No recreates what so ever. It’s def a journey and support helps. I found PS buddies on this website and I have found that super helpful. You really make a new friend while sharing the experience together and being able to bounce thoughts and questions off eachother.
Keep us updated on what you decide to do?

Really you only needed Tylenol for the pain after the plastics? I heard from others that its very painful and they needed to take scripts of pain pills. I can not take pain pills at all due to my Chrons. This may be some great news for me. I do have a strong pain threshold so maybe its doable.

1 minute ago, HealthyLifeStyle said:

Really you only needed Tylenol for the pain after the plastics? I heard from others that its very painful and they needed to take scripts of pain pills. I can not take pain pills at all due to my Chrons. This may be some great news for me. I do have a strong pain threshold so maybe its doable.

I had a lot of pain with mine (mostly with my lower body lift). I think it depends somewhat on if they do lipo and muscle tightening - as supposedly that's where a lot of the pain comes from. I had almost no pain with my RNY, but plastics were another story. It probably depends on the person, too (as well as what they do in surgery). Some people report not having much pain. I didn't have much with my breast lift at all - but the lower body lift was a challenge. After the first three or four days, though, it was discomfort rather than pain.

Depending on what you have done you will need stronger pain meds than Tylenol. I cannot take opioids for more than a day or two. I hate the feeling and it makes me itch constantly. Any muscle work will be more painful than just skin work. Do not let this deter you. Speak to a good surgeon. He will give you options.

I only needed the stronger pain meds for a couple days, and then was fine with alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen.

On 5/18/2021 at 9:34 AM, Tashaplus3 said:

Depending on what you have done you will need stronger pain meds than Tylenol. I cannot take opioids for more than a day or two. I hate the feeling and it makes me itch constantly. Any muscle work will be more painful than just skin work. Do not let this deter you. Speak to a good surgeon. He will give you options.

If I get anything done, I think it will be a tummy tuck. The hospital where I had my bypass will refer me to their plastic surgeon. They are excellent.

On 5/18/2021 at 10:06 AM, kristieshannon said:

I only needed the stronger pain meds for a couple days, and then was fine with alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen.

I won't be able to take ibuprofen, only Tylenol and that is why I am so worried about it. Tylenol really doesn't do much for me in the first place.

On 05/18/2021 at 08:20, HealthyLifeStyle said:

Really you only needed Tylenol for the pain after the plastics? I heard from others that its very painful and they needed to take scripts of pain pills. I can not take pain pills at all due to my Chrons. This may be some great news for me. I do have a strong pain threshold so maybe its doable.

I did have the muscle tightening too. I didn’t say it didn’t hurt. It did. Was it excruciating the entire time. No. The first few days were the most painful. After that the pain was manageable w Tylenol for me. I slept in a recliner bc I had drains, couldn’t put body straight, and I also have breast lift and augmentation so sleeping in a recliner was the only way I could sleep. Like sneezing or coughing was very painful bc of the muscle tightening. For me even w the pain it was all worth it. I’m 8 mos out now.
I wasn’t trying to minimize it. It is painful but for me after a few days or so I was able to take mostly Tylenol for pain.
Other things hurt me after a little while like my back from being hunched over all the time.

I would equate the pain of the muscle tightening to a really hard an workout. It was sore for sure, but entirely tolerable. And just looking at me belly in the mirror without the big skin flap made all the discomfort worth it.