Loose skin from extreme edema

Five0Six

A few years ago my kidneys crashed. I wound up developing extreme edema. (Water and fluid build). I went from 140 pounds to 210 pounds inside a week. We managed to get it bled off in three months, but the rapid gain and loss left me with loose skin, a wrinkled lower abdomen, and odd dents in my hips.

My boyfriend reassures me that working out will make it go away. I am not so convinced.

Does working out really help? Am I doomed to have to save until I'm 80 for plastic surgery, by which time it'll be pointless to get?

apullum

There are a lot of factors that determine the extent to which skin "bounces back." Age and genetics are big ones, as is how much loose skin you have. A lot of people here who have lost a lot of weight also find that their skin seems to tighten up as they maintain their weight for several years.

Strength training can help by building muscle under the loose skin, giving it a smoother appearance. Most people think that strength training makes them happier with their appearance. It's hard to say exactly how much it will help, though. There are just a lot of variables.

I would say that a strength training program is a good idea for just about everyone who is physically/medically able to do it. I don't know whether it will do everything that you want it do to, but I think it's worth a try. So if your doctor has cleared you to work out, I would check out a beginner strength program (https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1).

missysippy930

70 pounds in a week? That seems pretty excessive, and like it would require emergency resolution or hospitalization. Cosmetic issues you can live with, how are your kidneys?

Five0Six

It was extremely excessive. Luckily, I was already in the hospital when the worst of it happened. (The first 20 pounds had come in a few days earlier, but I didn't know anything about edema and didn't think it was a problem until I went to the ER.)

The kidneys....eeeehhh, they're there? Stage 3 kidney disease. I'll be on dialysis eventually, but my labs are looking good enough as to where we should be able to put that off for a couple of years, maybe even a little longer than that. They're not repairable anymore, thanks to the lupus, but I can definitely keep them where they're at for some time longer, if I keep up with medication, a semi-decent diet, and with a little luck.

slbbw

How long ago was this? 3-4 years ago is a different story than 1-2 years ago. Skin takes time to go back, a good mosturizer and massage might help in this case. comparing it to pregnancy related stretching, which is not nearly as extreme as what you went through, it depends on genetics as to how the skin bounces back. Strength training will definitely help. Anything that gets blood flow to the areas could help. As pointed above strength training is just good in general so it does not hurt to try it.

missysippy930

Wishing you nothing but the best!
My husband has failing kidneys as well. Dialysis in his future as well. He’s a five year cancer survivor with another very slow growing cancer diagnosed in his lymph nodes where the original cancer was removed. So radiation therapy in his future as well as the dialysis
Hang in there sweetie, your battle scars are a testament to your courage and perseverance! May your beauty shine out from within❤️

AnnPT77

Working out is a good thing for skin and all our other organs, as is solid well-rounded nutrition.

I know that loose skin from weight loss can shrink back once the fat is depleted (it's just slow - much slower than fat loss IME: Mine kept shrinking well into year 2 of maintenance and possibly beyond). But results vary by person.

From reading other people's stories here, it seems like pregnancy-stretched skin shrinks well for some, less well for others. Pregnancy is a bit different challenge to the body than excess weight, so maybe that makes a difference. I think some people now are using light-compression garments to support the skin post-pregnancy, so that gravity doesn't aggravate or prolong the situation.

So: Edema. I don't know. That's a very different effect on the body and tissues than either excess fat or pregnancy. I don't know whether that makes a difference to skin-shrinkage expectations, or not.

I hope you get replies from others who've experienced edema, or that your medical team can offer some insight . . . I don't think it would necessarily be accurate for us to generalize from the fat-loss or pregnancy scenarios. Might be similar, but might not.

Wishing you all the best, and that you'll experience improvements! :flowerforyou:

kshama2001

Even if the working out doesn't help, which I bet it does, it has other benefits. I agree that anyone who can strength train, should. My mom's osteoporosis doctor wishes she had started decades earlier.

Karlijunruh

Hi guys,
I'm in a bit of a pinch too... And have been struggling.

When I started 3+ years ago I was a whopping 200 pounds... Keep in mind I am 5,2 anyways fast forward and I dropped sizes I'm now at a healthy 146 pounds.

* I carry my weight in my stomach,hips and thighs *

I can't for the life of me loose my stomach... It actually hangs over, almost like a fold. I cannot determine if this is loose skin or still fat or maybe even a combination of the two. It is deteriorating my mental health as I feel lost and ugly and no matter what I try to do it won't go away....

I need you help... Is it loose skin?if not, Is there a way to get rid of it... Suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated

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PAV8888

First of all, in utter sincerity, you've done a fabulous job and have immensely improved your health.

You're only three and a bit years into this and at the top of the healthy range (by many classifications you would still be considered slightly overweight as your BMI comes back above 24.9 unless my number crunching failed)

Weight management for formerly obese people like ourselves is not a short term thing... we will need to continue managing our weight for the long term.

You have some loose skin and actually what doesn't look like that much of an overhang.

You still have a layer of fat there and, of course, it weighs the skin and makes the "overhand" more obvious.

Healthwise your way forward probably involves strength training and a continuing slow fat reduction--assuming that pursuing such goals can be done without endangering your existing big win, which is your current progress to date.

The 90% win you need to fight to retain is what you already have.

Whether that fight is best done by staying where you are or by continuing to seek improvements is up to you. Personally I prefer to seek gradual, measured, improvements as one of my defenses against backsliding; but, without losing focus as to what is actually most important!

So losing more weight into the normal weight range and strength training will reduce the amount of fat you have.

And your skin will have more time to recover.

Once you do that and given it some time to revive, then you could contemplate surgery.

However the information that I found is that such surgery leaves a large scar (usually at the bikini line) and some level of complications and somewhat painful recoveries are not uncommon

I would estimate that I have more of an overhang than you yet I decided NOT to pursue surgery.


I just realized that this was not the OP, sorry about that.