To Compress or Not to Compress.....

heatherambrosia
on 8/6/11 7:34 am - GA

I'm very early out... only about 2 1/2 weeks. I'm still savoring the idea of tuna instead of pudding, and greek yogurt instead of a popsicle, so I don't want to put the cart before the horse.

However, I'm still relatively young at 30 and feel like I will have some luck with the elasticity of my skin, and I don't have any notion that I won't have excess skin on my arms, legs, and tummy. But, do you compress? If so, when did you start? Do you think it helps with actually getting the skin to adhere better to the muscle, or is it sheerly a cosmetic / vanity approach?

Happy Losing,
HAG

SW 343, Current below, Goal 160 & to start a family! 11978920

nfarris79
on 8/6/11 7:40 am - Germantown, MD

RNY on 04/13/11

May also be good to cross-post on the plastic surgery site? From what a plastic surgeon said at our support group, age, genetics, & how long you'd been obese have more to play in your excess skin than anything short of PS will do. Once skin has been stretched, it only has just so much capacity to bounce back. Compression garments seem to help those who've had open RNY to keep the scar from stretching but have not heard anything solid on using them to change tissue structure.

First ultra: Stone Mill 50 miler 11/15/14 13:44:38, First Full Marathon: Marine Corps 10/27/13 4:57:11, Half Marathon PR 2:04:43 at Shamrock VA Beach Half-Marathon, 12/2/12 First Half-Marathon 2:32:47, 5K PR Run Under the Lights 5K 27:23 on 11/23/13, 10K PR 52:53 Pike's Peek 10K 4/21/13, (1st timed run) Accumen 8K 51:09 10/14/12.

Cicerogirl, The PhD
Version
on 8/6/11 8:13 am - OH

RNY on 08/27/07

The problem with the excess skin is not that it doesn't "stick to the muscle"... your skin itself does not actually stick to your muscle... it is that the skin has been stretched (and additional skin actually GROWN to be able to cover the larger surface area of your body). .

Compression won't help UNGROW skin or get a 12x12 inch piece of stretched skin to unstretch to only an 8x8 piece.

Lora

14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained

You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.

poet_kelly
on 8/6/11 8:19 am - OH

RNY on 11/04/08

If you were large enough to need WLS, your skin has not just stretched. You've grown more skin. There is no way to ungrow skin. You're stuck with it unless you have plastic surgery.

Kelly

Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.

heatherambrosia
on 8/6/11 12:58 pm - GA

Good advise on the "Grown skin" point. I have been obese or super obese for a long time. Knowing that... sounds like compression is pretty much for cosmectic reasons. I'm sure I'll still use them, but once I have children etc many years on the future, I'm sure PS is on the way for me.

Thanks as always!

SW 343, Current below, Goal 160 & to start a family! 11978920

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To Compress or Not to Compress.....

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To Compress or Not to Compress.....