Excess skin plea

mcfc4tony
mcfc4tony Posts: 107 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
An interesting story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-22457765
Respect to the guy for losing so much weight :drinker:

Replies

  • kazzsjourney
    kazzsjourney Posts: 674 Member
    wow after losing 188 pounds I thought my skin was bad...mine is totally liveable with...but that skin on his inner thighs looks like it would be painful.
  • nas061
    nas061 Posts: 256 Member
    It must be horrible to have that much loose skin - I'm surprised that he hasn't been able to get some removed on purely medical grounds by the NHS.
  • shelled
    shelled Posts: 31
    I've done some reading on "excess skin" issues before, and it's been said our body is fully capable of "shrinking" back the excess skin as we slowly lose weight. Judging by the linked article, I'm guessing part of that is a hoax. Especially if your body weight went up to some obscene numbers prior to losing.
  • kazzsjourney
    kazzsjourney Posts: 674 Member
    I lost my weight slowly (6.5 years) and no way my skin will fully go back...no way in hell...I dont think its a hoax at all...specially as the calves are pretty normal then the thighs is really bad....mines the same...my calves loook pretty damn awesome but there is no way i would let someone see my thighs.
  • anniemarianas
    anniemarianas Posts: 49
    i think the excess skin can shrink back a little bit depending on age, elasticity and how much weight you've lost but really i don't think enough to be noticeable, especially after large amounts of weights lost like this poor chap.
    i think the skin elasticity bit only works if you were never really overweight in the first place, and if you didnt lose much weight at all.
  • FlippinNora
    FlippinNora Posts: 41 Member
    It's not a hoax, this man is well known in the media and was once Britain's biggest man. He's done incredibly well with his weight loss c/o a gastric band though although I honestly don't think he could have lost the weight without. It's a shame, he says his skin gets sore and splits however, the NHS will only do it if your quality of life is considerably suffering and he stabilises weight for two years.
    I guess performing the surgery on someone who may then lose more, or gain, is not a good idea - so I can see why the 'two years stable' thing is the criteria. Still - good for him, his life must be so much better.
  • nas061
    nas061 Posts: 256 Member
    Definitely not a hoax - I can remember reading about this chap when he was at his highest weight and bed-bound. It's a huge achievement to have lost so much weight, but it has left him partially disabled due to the amount of excess skin that he carries on his body.
  • Dori_Gaga
    Dori_Gaga Posts: 50 Member
    This is the same man who tried to sue the NHS in 2011 for not giving him gastric bypass sooner. He was eating 20,000 calories a day, and blames the health care system for the reason he got so big because they didn't step in sooner.

    Now he wants skin surgery sooner than they allow... it says he has to maintain the weight for 2 years, and that makes sense because if he can't maintain the weight, why would they do a costly surgery?

    Taxpayers paid for his gastric bypass in the first place... I'm sure if he wanted to pay for his own surgery he could get it sooner.
  • shelled
    shelled Posts: 31
    I think what I wrote was slightly misunderstood. I didn't mean the news article being a hoax, I mean the "fitness expert" i read saying skin will shrink back being a hoax. I hope no one was unintentionally enraged by that misunderstanding.

    Personally I'm a mom who has gone through 3 c-sections, and I've not been able to get rid of this tiny flap of excess skin hanging just above my c-section scar too. So I've always felt the theory of skin being able to shrink back being somewhat of a hoax, probably like someone mentioned here – only works on people who were never really overweight (or only slightly so).
  • shelled
    shelled Posts: 31
    It's not a hoax, this man is well known in the media and was once Britain's biggest man. He's done incredibly well with his weight loss c/o a gastric band though although I honestly don't think he could have lost the weight without. It's a shame, he says his skin gets sore and splits however, the NHS will only do it if your quality of life is considerably suffering and he stabilises weight for two years.
    I guess performing the surgery on someone who may then lose more, or gain, is not a good idea - so I can see why the 'two years stable' thing is the criteria. Still - good for him, his life must be so much better.

    TWO YEARS?! That's an awfully long time to wait. But I guess that's what happens when you rely on the government for anything...

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