I just turned 59 and am trying to get approval from my insurance company. While I am waiting I have had a lot of time to think about things. I have a question for the older women who have the band. Do you have a lot of excess skin and wrinkles when you lose? I am about 36BMI now. I know I will have some excess skin because of my age but does your skin shrink at all at this age? Thanks for any info you can give me.

I am 44 and my bmi was around 45. I have skin that is still sagging. I know that I have to either have plastic surgery or live with the sagging. No amount of exercise will change this for me.

I'm 62 and couldn't handle being an obese woman. I was banded in Dec. 04 and and have only lost 32 pounds - but the way I was going, I would have been at least that much heavier. One problem at a time - first the weight - then decide what to do with all the extra skin. At least by losing slowly, some of it tends to shrink. I'm getting discouraged at how slow it is.....but then, I'm not making the right food choices - nor am I exercising. I NEED TO DO BOTH. Decided to find a support group and hope this will be helpful.

I've lost 58 pounds. I have saggy skin in my stomach and my upper underarms. Until I get to a stopping point, I'm really not worrying about the skin. I'm too busy enjoying the newfound energy, less medical problems, less medicines. My DH hasn't complained yet.

Judy.....right now I'm just tickled pink to get the weight off. Later on I'm sure I'll have a whole lot of "unwanted skin". If so, then I'll cross that bridge when I come to it but I keep telling myself this....heck on the Maury show they can take a man and tape and strap and girdle and whatever else to make him look like a woman so I can do the same to myself!

That is too funny. Right now I would just like to hear from my insurance company. They keep losing my information. They have had it since the middle of April. I called them today and they said they had routed it wrong so they were going to resubmit it. 10 days ago they had misplaced my denial from my primary and were going to expedite it. So much for expediting it. Thanks for your response.

Judy....hang in there! Hopefully your insurance company will get into the right hands this time. One lady that works for the same county as I do and has the exact same insurance as I do, took 3 1/2 months to get approval and she was definitely a candidate for surgery. I heard from my insurance within a week and a half. Stay on top of them and don't let them misplace you again! Good luck and keep us posted, please.