Panniculectomy surgery..stomach muscle tightening..HELP ????

My insurance has approved my panniculectomy surgery which i am thrilled about, however, in talking to my plastic surgeon he says the procedure that insurance pays for does not include tightening of the abdominal muscles, that will be an additional cost, i have the money to pay for it, but is it really necessary? and does it make that big of a difference? i am having my surgery in a few days so i need some feedback please from you folks who have had it done and anyone who has info and advice..thanks for the help.

I guess it just depends on how much you need to have it done, and what you want your results to be. Most women want it done to get a nice flat stomach. When I had mine done my PS said that my muscles were tight already and that I didn't need to have them tightened. I hear that the pain is greater with muscle tightening.... I have a LBL, am very happy with the results! C BA and bracheoplasty scheduled for July 23!!!

If you can hold in your stomach and it goes in alot, then you want the muscle tighten..Thats the best advice I can really give. If you hold your tummy in and theres not much difference than probably no. But if your PS says you should, then do it, why do back and have to have it done, get the best results the first time.. If you do have it done ask for some valium, this will relax your muscles afterwards so to cut down on the discomfort. I had a LBL with muscle tightening 6 weeks ago, Im as flat as a board, and muscles are very tight. Good Luck and congrats... Bridgette

You just need to be careful about the insurance and what your costs would be. My surgeon wanted to bill insurance for the panniculectomy and bill me seperate for the things I want done aside from it while i was under. the billing center told him absolutely not. That if insurance saw anything else there they would not approve it, and if billing saw a seperate bill they would also seperate out a portions of the hospital care, drugs, etc. Just make sure you ask a lot of questions before agreeing to anythign so that you do not end up with a HUGE bill in the end. Good luck with yours! I am going in on Monday for my panniculectomy! I am so excited!

insurance pays for the things that were preapproved, does not pay for those that were not. for me, the ones not approved were accounted for in the billing and Operative reports, insurance doesnt care that you are having MORE done, if you are paying for it, and won't kick out paying for a preapproved surgery just because you added on. they actually pay a flat rate to both hospital and dr, regardless of what else you had done. . I had the LBL, and insurance paid the amount for a panni, $1200, is the standard insurance payment to the surgeon. That is why most surgeons don't do all the extra work required for a full abdominoplasty on that payment.

All of the panni photos I've seen don't look nearly as good as tummy tucks where the muscles are tightened. The panni photos to me end up looking pot bellied. Due to being morbidly obese most of our lives, our muscles are all stretched out and so the tightening helps you hold your new shape. I would DEFINITELY go for it...just make sure they bill it separately. But definitely do it. Kat

I had a circumferential lower body lift with no muscle tightening...now 3 months post OP I do get that slight feeling of: hmm maybe I should have had them tightened a bit. If I were to make the decision again, I would most probably tell my surgeon to do it. But for now, I dont think I will go under the knife again just for the tightening..I just have too much respect for the surgery still lol Maybe things will change once I am fully healed from this one and the thighlift, arm lift in october.. we will see.

Hey Bob./... looks like you are about 14 mos out.....give us some more info....how old are you...(old fart here) how tall are you, how much was your high weight, your weight now? and how much is he gonna charge you i'm 47 yo, and they took 4: off my abs...or FL-abs....with the tightening russ

I just had a LBL 6 days ago with the muscle tightening. I will say that the pain from the surgery, is 95% from the muscle tightening. I'm not sure what my final result will be, but I'd say if you can afford it, go for it. Better to get the best result possible the first time. Good luck Bill

well, i am 43, i am 6 foot tall, at the most i weighed about 410lbs, but when i started this journey i was 379, i weigh between 203 and 207 now, depends on the time of day and number of cups of coffee i have..he is charging me an additional $3,500.00 dollars for the tightening 600, 700 and 2200.00 (three checks) one for the hospital, one for the anestheiologist and one for himself, i am going to go ahead and do it, i really dont want to do more than one surgery for it, plus, i think having a tight stomach for once in my life will be a unique thing (to me anyway since i was a fattie from day one). I will give you guys the update as it happens..thanks so much for the input