ON NOW -The Real Skinny on TLC - Problem with Excess Skin After Weight Loss

 Great show for those of you wondering about the excess skin after weight loss. 

I just turned to it.  It looks like it will be a very informative show.

I dont have cable... how can I see it?

Do you have TLC?  The Learning Channel?

 Wow, this is really graphic. 

Thanks! I just set it to record later tonight since I've already missed half of it. I will say I've already had skin removed from losing weight on my own because it was hard exercising with that extra 20lbs of skin hanging around. It really wasn't hard or painful. It was uncomfortable because of the new tightness of the skin, but it wasn't painful.

I'm seriously considering having excess skin removed, but I have some concerns.  How long was your recovery period? Did you have any of the complications (i.e. infections, opening of incision site, etc) that were documented in the TLC show? How long was your actual surgery?  What areas on your body did you have done?  How much did it cost? Did insurance cover any of it?

I have a lot of excess skin on my arms, legs, stomach area. I've lost 140 lbs so far. My RNY surgery was 2 years ago.

I have 2 insurances, but both state up-front that while they cover RNY, they do not cover costs of skin removal, so I'm sure it'll all be out-of-pocket expense. I have a consultation with a plastic surgeon in my area in 2 days. I'm very excited to talk with him, but REALLY nervous too!

I would love to hear from someone who's been through it.

I did 3 separate surgeries each 3 months apart. I had an arm lift, thigh lift, and almost a 360 lift (there's about 8" between the incisions on my back). I will have to have revisions when I lose more weight but it is SOOOOO much easier to exercise without that 20lbs of skin hanging around my waist. Thankfully my surgeon told me at the time that he would do my revisions for free once I lost more weight. I'm not sure how I lucked out on that one.

The arm lift was about $5,000, the thigh lift was $9,500 (I had a bit of knee lipo so that made it more expensive), and the one for my stomach area was $8,500. My insurance didn't cover any of it, but I didn't try to push them to cover it so I don't know if they would have if I had tried harder.

It was almost 3 years ago that I had the surgery so I don't remember actual times but I think the arm lift was about 1.5hrs, the thigh one was about 2hrs, and the one around my waist was about 2.5hrs.

Feel free to message me if you have anymore questions or would like to see before/after photos.

twinkles,  thanks so much for responding to my post. it was very nice to hear from someone who's actually been thru it.  I went for my consultation and got some really good info, but I had some reservations about  the dr. that I saw. I've made appts. to see 2 more surgeons in a couple of weeks, and I hope they'll be a better fit. 

The more I check into this, the more excited I become to have this done. It would make exercising so much easier, plus maybe I won't have to buy my pants a size too large to fit around my lap-over, and take them up in the waist!!

Thanks again, twinkles!