advice about loose skin surgery

miam4nia

Hi,

I know this is a part of weight loss that a few of you might have experienced. Personally I have a lot of loose skin (particularly dangling off my belly and my arms) that a doctor has told me I would definitely need to get work done on. I'm beginning to notice also some loose skin on my inner thighs.

Understandably, as I'm losing weight and the skin becomes more noticable, I'm starting to get scared about the whole process of getting my skin cut off. I want some advice from others who have had loose skin removal surgery on how to be able to mentally prepare for it. I also want some advice about after care and how long it normally takes to recover. Just any information about your experiences with this surgery would be a great help for me.

miam4nia

bump

vas0821

Check out this blog from another MFPer who just went through surgery two weeks ago . . . his posts are honest. Although I don't have any experience with this (yet) and I'm not sure if I will, I found myself feeling his anxiety and fear just by reading his words. I'm rooting for Ed everyday.

www.gettingfit4life.com

PHATFOBIA

Hi,
I'd be interested to know what your doctor said about how he could tell you'd definitely need the surgery? I too am absolutely petrified about the possibility that I will need it. I feel damaged enough already by a lifetime of weight issues not to now have to deal with this as well. So far I have just kept it in the back of my mind but it will have to be faced eventually. Sometimes I wonder if I haven't been sabotaging myself because I am scared of what getting to target will mean eg serious surgery.

Also, have you been doing any kind of weight training during your weight loss to try and keep up and if possible increase your lean mass? This is supposed to help also I have read that it's not always just loose SKIN it's a combination of skin and fat tissue because the longer you have been fat and the higher your max weight was the more likely you are to have not only full fat cells but a larger number of them. So in losing weight you deplete all fat cells and end up with lots of shrunken fat cells instead of nice and full fewer fat cells. It makes sense why this would mean having a flabby look

Happy to share info as we go along.

miam4nia

Hi,
I'd be interested to know what your doctor said about how he could tell you'd definitely need the surgery? I too am absolutely petrified about the possibility that I will need it. I feel damaged enough already by a lifetime of weight issues not to now have to deal with this as well. So far I have just kept it in the back of my mind but it will have to be faced eventually. Sometimes I wonder if I haven't been sabotaging myself because I am scared of what getting to target will mean eg serious surgery.

Also, have you been doing any kind of weight training during your weight loss to try and keep up and if possible increase your lean mass? This is supposed to help also I have read that it's not always just loose SKIN it's a combination of skin and fat tissue because the longer you have been fat and the higher your max weight was the more likely you are to have not only full fat cells but a larger number of them. So in losing weight you deplete all fat cells and end up with lots of shrunken fat cells instead of nice and full fewer fat cells. It makes sense why this would mean having a flabby look

Happy to share info as we go along.

My highest ever weight was 114 kgs....once I got down to 75 kgs, which was a pretty massive loss already, I could see the loose skin and fat dangling from my arms were actually bigger than my actual arm. I have done strength training throughout losing weight, but I've had three doctors all tell me that in the end I will probably need to have it. I am currently at 64 kgs and I can see that my skin is more noticable right now...so I'm pretty sure that I will eventually have to get it. When i am in certain angles my skin just dangles, even from my tummmy and it's really embarrassing considering how young I am and how i've never been pregnant!

psuLemon

There are a lot of variables to if you need surgery; age, lbm, and genetics can affect it. The younger you are the more likely you have elasticity you have in your skin. If you have a small calorie deficit (20% below tdee) and concentrate on heavy weight lifting it can reduce the affects.

cramernh

I also want some advice about after care and how long it normally takes to recover. Just any information about your experiences with this surgery would be a great help for me.

There is never such a thing as 'normal' with regards to recovery time. Every patient is different. Different circumstances, vitals, health history, body composition, etc.


Aftercare and recovery information pertaining to you is a conversation you need to have with the surgeon who will be performing the procedure. Only they will know about you, your situation and personal medical history to be able to determine the best course of treatment, post-op care and recovery time. Not MFP.

The one thing I will tell you that those surgeons will definitely agree with me on (I work for over 300+ physicians for a living)...

The more compliant a patient is with their post-op rehabilitation, the better the recovery time. Surgery and post-op are not an area to mess around with. They will definitely stress proper modified diet that transitions into regular diet, hydration-hydration-hydration, and you really need to have a good supportive system in place to do everything around the house for you while you recouperate. This is surgery is definitely not something they would do for a patient if they didnt have someone taking care of them afterwards...

miam4nia

Check out this blog from another MFPer who just went through surgery two weeks ago . . . his posts are honest. Although I don't have any experience with this (yet) and I'm not sure if I will, I found myself feeling his anxiety and fear just by reading his words. I'm rooting for Ed everyday.

www.gettingfit4life.com

amazing blog, anyone else who is curious should look too

trienn

This topic interests me as well. I'm in the similar position: I will have to surgically remove the loose skin once I reach my goal weight.

.... Sometimes I wonder if I haven't been sabotaging myself because I am scared of what getting to target will mean eg serious surgery...

I lost about 60 kg and counting.
Yes, I have loose skin *everywhere*. I look ridiculous without clothes.
I have "wings". I have "cellulite-alike" loose skin on my hips. I don't have a stomach, I have a enormous swim belt.
I have at least 5 kg of skin on me.


But,
trust me,
I would never change back. Oh no.
My weight made me feel unhappy and made me unhealthy.
I'd rather have loose skin than go back there.

And it's not that bad, you get used to it.
The skin repairs a bit eventually. Do lift weights, drink a lot of water, give it some time, hope for the best,....And even, if you can and need it, do an operation. It's not the worst thing ever.

What you get with losing weight is hundred times better than having "a bit" of loose skin. And yes, it's worth it!
My humble opinion.

How much do you want to lose anyway?

juang3

In 2000 I had surgery to remove loose skin on my abdomen. During pregnancy with my oldest son in the 80's I developed pre-eclampsia and gained over 150# in about 4 or 5 months, the majority of it fluid. I was on bedrest from 5 months on and could not move around too much, the diuretics I was on during that time weren't helping at all. My physician was pretty old school and kept telling me that as long as it didn't affect my heart or kidneys he would not take the baby by c-section. You can imagine I was like a tight balloon, getting bigger and bigger. My stretch marks, for there was no normal skin left on my abdomen, began to bleed at around the 8 1/2 months mark and my arms and legs were weeping water all the time, it was horrible. After delivering my son naturally at 40 weeks I began to dump water rapidly. By his 3 month check up I had lost 120# and I had an apron of skin that hung down to the middle of my theighs. I was young, less than 20 at the time and relatively active. I remember rolling up the abdominal apron and shoving it down my pants to go to the gym. The skin on my arms and legs was loose and saggy too, but not like my abdomen and slowly the skin on my arms and legs tightened up on it's own. My family doctor as well as my GYN kept telling me to give it time for my abdomen to tighten back up. It didn't! When my oldest son was a teenager I visited a plastic surgeon to get the information about having it removed, she was astounded by my story doubly so by my abdomen. She told me it looked like I had had ceptuplets instead of one child. She assured me that that type of damage never repaired itself and the only option for a normal looking abdomen was to have the skin removed. I did! Was it the most painful procedure I have ever had? Absolutly!! Would I do it again? In an instant! I still have stretch marks everywhere including my arms, legs, abdomen and back that will never go away. The biggest issue after surger for me was that because there wasn't any whole tissue to sew back together she had to sew the stretch out skin back together and it didn't heal nicly. The incision opened after nealy a week making it necessary to kept the staples in and I had to do would care at home with my husbands assistance for the areas that didn't heal correctly. So now along with the stretch marks I have a hidiously thick scar across the bottom of my abdomen. Does it matter to me? Absolutly not! The only person who ever sees me with my clothes off is my husband and he doesn't care at all. Another curious after effect that I wasn't told about up front, I don't have any sensation to touch on my abdomen for about 6 inches all the way around my belly button (which had to be moved), the surgeon said the feeling might come back in a couple of years after surgery but it probably wouldn't and mine hasn't. I can feel pressure on the underlying muscle wall but the skin is absolutly numb. What ever you decide, discuss your expectations with the surgeon beforehand. Ask him/her about what the possible complications could be. No surgery is ever simple, it requires anesthesia and a knife! Make sure your surgeon is board certified and do a little research on the internet. There are plenty of places out there that rate physicians and the complications they are responsible for. But remember that like my wound seperation and delayed healing, some complications you just won't know about until you actually have the surgery.

DCHound

This is a subject I've been obsessing about since I started losing weight in 2008. I've lost nearly 200 pounds and my search for a solution that doesn't include surgery eventually led me to write a book about it. The short answer is, basically, if you can get to within 5-10 pounds of goal weight, with a very low BMI, your skin can snap back. It depends on a lot of factors - age, genetics, etc., but it's possible to do it without surgery.

If you're interested in my research and findings - the things that work best are jumping on a mini trampoline, various vitamins, minerals and extracts, and some other stuff, check out my website http://www.firmlooseskin.com as well as my book on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009MT4588/ref=nosim?tag=firlooski-20&linkCode=sb1&camp=212353&creative=380549). You can read the first few chapters online at Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/doc/109857643/Firm-Loose-Skin-Book-Preview).

Best of luck in your weight loss journey! Losing the weight will change your life in ways you can't even imagine now.

hellerd2003

Unless you are having side effects that are insurmountable by the loose skin (rashes that don't go away, back pain from carrying loose skin, etc.), you don't ever HAVE to have the surgery.

Any surgery is full of risks. Anesthesia itself is an issue. Not mention risk of infection, etc.

I think that the largest issue is that we need to learn to love ourselves despite our flaws. I had weight loss surgery, lost quite a bit, and then gained it back. DId I have loose skin at my lowest weight? Yes. But I never really loved *me* despite my flaws. What I have seen as a member of a large WLS support group is that once people start correcting with one surgery, they don't tend to stop. They're looking for perfection, and very few bodies are ever "perfect".

Any surgery should be done with serious consideration. I regret my weight loss surgery as it has lead to complications I knew of intellectually, but chose to ignore because I was so unhappy with myself at the weight I was. If you don't have a medical condition as a result of the weight loss, I'd focus on learning to love yourself, faults and all. If you do have something medically wrong that can be fixed with a cosmetic surgery, then go for it. Realize, though, that you will always have scarring, which in and of itself, if you don't love yourself first, will haunt you.

Best wishes to you.

bkesecker

Check out the blog at www.gettingfit4life.com

This guy is on MFP and is currently recovering from this surgery.

Good luck.

miam4nia

In 2000 I had surgery to remove loose skin on my abdomen. During pregnancy with my oldest son in the 80's I developed pre-eclampsia and gained over 150# in about 4 or 5 months, the majority of it fluid. I was on bedrest from 5 months on and could not move around too much, the diuretics I was on during that time weren't helping at all. My physician was pretty old school and kept telling me that as long as it didn't affect my heart or kidneys he would not take the baby by c-section. You can imagine I was like a tight balloon, getting bigger and bigger. My stretch marks, for there was no normal skin left on my abdomen, began to bleed at around the 8 1/2 months mark and my arms and legs were weeping water all the time, it was horrible. After delivering my son naturally at 40 weeks I began to dump water rapidly. By his 3 month check up I had lost 120# and I had an apron of skin that hung down to the middle of my theighs. I was young, less than 20 at the time and relatively active. I remember rolling up the abdominal apron and shoving it down my pants to go to the gym. The skin on my arms and legs was loose and saggy too, but not like my abdomen and slowly the skin on my arms and legs tightened up on it's own. My family doctor as well as my GYN kept telling me to give it time for my abdomen to tighten back up. It didn't! When my oldest son was a teenager I visited a plastic surgeon to get the information about having it removed, she was astounded by my story doubly so by my abdomen. She told me it looked like I had had ceptuplets instead of one child. She assured me that that type of damage never repaired itself and the only option for a normal looking abdomen was to have the skin removed. I did! Was it the most painful procedure I have ever had? Absolutly!! Would I do it again? In an instant! I still have stretch marks everywhere including my arms, legs, abdomen and back that will never go away. The biggest issue after surger for me was that because there wasn't any whole tissue to sew back together she had to sew the stretch out skin back together and it didn't heal nicly. The incision opened after nealy a week making it necessary to kept the staples in and I had to do would care at home with my husbands assistance for the areas that didn't heal correctly. So now along with the stretch marks I have a hidiously thick scar across the bottom of my abdomen. Does it matter to me? Absolutly not! The only person who ever sees me with my clothes off is my husband and he doesn't care at all. Another curious after effect that I wasn't told about up front, I don't have any sensation to touch on my abdomen for about 6 inches all the way around my belly button (which had to be moved), the surgeon said the feeling might come back in a couple of years after surgery but it probably wouldn't and mine hasn't. I can feel pressure on the underlying muscle wall but the skin is absolutly numb. What ever you decide, discuss your expectations with the surgeon beforehand. Ask him/her about what the possible complications could be. No surgery is ever simple, it requires anesthesia and a knife! Make sure your surgeon is board certified and do a little research on the internet. There are plenty of places out there that rate physicians and the complications they are responsible for. But remember that like my wound seperation and delayed healing, some complications you just won't know about until you actually have the surgery.

Wow...so it wasn't even gaining weight normally that made your skin loose....that sounds very scary!!! Thanks for sharing your story is really interesting!