You shouldn't need a skin graft. Mine was open about 2 inches wide at the top tapering to about 1/2 wide down my thigh about 8 inches on one thigh and 2 inches on the other. What kind of wound care does your surgeon have you doing? Mine had me using wet to dry dressings - gauze dipped in Dakin's Solution packed into the wounds and changed when dry twice a day. After the area had started to heal, he switched me to medicinal honey. It was not a fast process by any means (8 weeks I think) and my worst opening on my hip LBL incision just finally closed last week (my surgery for both was May 8th). But they all closed without any surgical intervention. As to how they look, the groin scars are ugly. The rest I think will improve with time.

I don't have a senior citizen body and I had major wound dehiscence on both my thighs in the groin area with my thigh lift in May (and with my body lift) so I can commiserate. I can't do anything about it yet, but I imagine some scar revision is going to be necessary to look normal. I'm not looking forward to it.

My complications didn't start until 2 weeks post-op starting with pneumonia, then wound dehiscence week 2.5 - week 4 with treatment still ongoing (week 11), then a pulmonary embolism at 7.5 weeks. Just an example to show you're not necessarily out of the woods at 7-10 days!

I was a 42B at my heaviest and am now a droopy 36B/34C. My surgeon said doing a lift without augmentation would leave me really small as I basically have no breast tissue and frankly never did. He said he would need to at least do a small implant with a lift to leave me with anything. It's a bummer to not have the choice of good breasts with just a lift...

Because inquiring minds want to know? Whatever it is, I hope it goes well!

Thank you, Laura!

Thank you, Janet! I am too!!!

Wise man, your Dad!

You aren't going to believe this, although with my luck maybe you will...

I woke up on Tuesday morning at 4am with a pain in my back. I thought I slept wrong and pulled a muscle. Deep breaths hurt, but non-deep breathing was fine. Given my last 2 months, I texted my primary care doctor that night and said, "I think it may just be a pulled muscle, but it hurts to take a deep breath. Can I be a hypochondriac and see you tomorrow to listen to my lungs?" He said yes, come see me at 1. An hour and a half before my appointment, the pain just vanished completely and I could breathe easily. I sheepishly kept my appointment anyway and apologized for wasting his time.

He said my lungs sounded fine, but just to be cautious he ordered a chest x-ray and a DDimer test that can rule out a blood clot. The chest x-ray was clear. Yesterday he called and said the blood test was elevated and he made me an appointment to get a CT scan in an hour to be safe. I'm laying in the CT scanner feeling silly for paying $350 to learn I have a pulled muscle when a radiologist rushes in and says I have a "huge" pulmonary embolism on my right side and she can't believe I'm asymptomatic. Oh and I can't get up from the machine and they've called the EMTs and an ambulance to take me the two blocks to the hospital. I was admitted and put on blood thinners right away. They ultrasounded both my legs and and it came from my left leg. Still parts there. I feel totally fine with no pain or shortness of breath and will be just fine, but thank God my doctor is thorough and cautious!! My maternal grandma died from her second PE (though she smoked). And my Dad has had a DVT. I was discharged this morning with an Eliquis prescription for the next 3-6 months. Gigantic sigh. Likely culprits are the surgery followed by being much more sedentary after, family history of clots, and oral contraceptives.

A grabber tool. I couldn't bend to pick up or reach anything for weeks. Also have a plan B for what happens if you aren't well enough to be left on your own after two weeks.

Maybe it was. Worth asking! He seemed quite sure it was safe to do all at once and from a surgery standpoint I was fine, but maybe I just didn't have the reserves to heal from it all at once.

Thank you, Pat! I just wish they sold it in bigger tubes - one lasts just under a week with all my holes!

Thank you also for the recommendation to see a wound specialist. I asked my surgeon if I would benefit from it and he said if it made me feel any better, he is actually the director of several wound care clinics in southern California so the treatment he is giving me is exactly what I'd get there. He also said he'd had some patients who went with other wound care centers when they ran into similar healing issues as mine and were subjected to unnecessary surgeries and skin grafts when their wounds would have healed nicely on their own eventually with his care. His concern is that many wound care clinics don't understand plastic surgery wound healing and go overboard with treatments. Not sure how widespread that is, but I do trust him. But I think if I hadn't stopped splitting or if he wasn't so incredibly responsive I would have given anything a try!

I think I've turned a corner, my friends. I have not had any new incisions open in 9 DAYS. Woohoo! Here's a rundown of what's going on:

• My left groin wound is nearly closed. Can I get a hallelujah? The Medihoney is pretty amazing.
• The left thigh scars are pristine. Still lumpy, but they will flatten with time. The important part is it's all CLOSED.
• The right groin opening is remarkably smaller, but it's behind in healing compared to the left one as it was much bigger to start with.
• The right thigh incision ended up opening about halfway down from the open groin, so it's open from my groin to about 8 inches down between the two wounds. The 6 inches below that is closed.
• Still can't wear underwear because of the groin wounds and in compression 24 hours a day to hold the bandaging in place.
• I ended up with 5 openings around my waist, the largest being over 2" x 1.5". You could yodel into it and get an echo back, but I'm assured they all will close eventually. They are all getting treated with Medihoney and seem to be doing well. It's like watching paint dry to grow in a hole, so I can't see the progress yet, but at least I don't see them getting worse.
• Still having to wear the poise pads around my waist and up and down the thighs/groin as long as I have open wounds slathered in sticky honey. So no pictures of my progress as I look padded with diapers. Because I am.
• My belly button looks fine, but still has a big scab on the bottom that I'm leaving alone for now.
• I can't say I've had a lot of swelling. I look a little poochy in the lower belly which I guess is swelling, but it so beats a roll, it doesn't bug me.
• I still can't take a full shower, but I can shower from my groin down, wash my hair with the detachable showerhead, and sponge bathe everywhere in between. I can't le****er get into the holes. That's been the hardest part, but I'm afraid I've just gotten used to it.

So that's where I stand. I can move a lot better, drive, and walk the dog with something called a gogostick from Amazon since I can't fully bend to reach the ground to clean up after him. You attach a bag to it and can scoop while standing. Mentally I don't cry about it anymore. I'm more resigned to being one of the unlucky ones with complications. I do really worry about one day doing my arms for fear of going through this again. But I'm nowhere near thinking about that yet.