Hi, I am a 26 year old who is in the process of getting approved for lap band. My mother struggled with her weight her whole life and finally had RNY gastric bypass, lost a lot of weight, and had to have plastic surgery to remove the extra skin and stuff. My questions are: 1) how common is this for people who have the band instead of bypass? and 2) if you have the surgery when you are younger, does your skin recover better. I guess I'm really trying to get at whether or not I'll need plastic surgery if I go ahead with this.

Thanks everyone!!:thumbup:

Hi, I am a 26 year old who is in the process of getting approved for lap band. My mother struggled with her weight her whole life and finally had RNY gastric bypass, lost a lot of weight, and had to have plastic surgery to remove the extra skin and stuff. My questions are: 1) how common is this for people who have the band instead of bypass? and 2) if you have the surgery when you are younger, does your skin recover better. I guess I'm really trying to get at whether or not I'll need plastic surgery if I go ahead with this.

Thanks everyone!!:thumbup:

I don't think anyone can answer this for you. I am 28 and my belly looks like Jabba the Hut and I needed/wanted a TT. Some things that CAN lead to the need.

1. Genetics

2. How quickly you lost the weight (though I don't think this would have helped me)

3. Age

4. Amount of exercise (though even a trainer told me it wouldn't have mattered)

5. How long you have been fat and the amount of yo-yo dieting.

I tell you this much though...I will take my size 4, 150 pound HEALTHY self with Jabba the Hut stomach ANY DAY over the size 24W, 250 UNhealthy self I was 9.5 months ago!

Good luck and best wishes on making the best decision for you.

Hi, I am a 26 year old who is in the process of getting approved for lap band. My mother struggled with her weight her whole life and finally had RNY gastric bypass, lost a lot of weight, and had to have plastic surgery to remove the extra skin and stuff. My questions are: 1) how common is this for people who have the band instead of bypass? and 2) if you have the surgery when you are younger, does your skin recover better. I guess I'm really trying to get at whether or not I'll need plastic surgery if I go ahead with this.

Thanks everyone!!:w00t:

I think it just depends on a lot of factors - genetics, how much you exercise, how long you've been overweight, etc. I've seen some who had skin sagging like a 90 year old and I've seen some who's skin bounced right back.

I've been overweight for most of my adult life so I'm figuring I may need a tummy tuck, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. My deciding factor on getting the LapBand wasn't how my skin was going to look after losing the weight. My deciding factor was stroking out, having a heart attack or losing my eyesight and feet to diabetes.

I'll take saggy skin over heart disease and diabetes any day of the week! BTW, I'm already off my diabetes meds. Wahooo!

Depends on how much you need to lose and genetics. I lost 100 lbs and just had a tummy tuck and thigh lift. Tummy tucks are quite common.

Plastic surgery is as a general rule, a choice we make. Whether we choose to do away with the excess skin or not. I did. But even if I hadn't the deflated skin beat the filled out skin all to pieces!!!!

Good Luck in your researching!

Kat