Hello All

I am almost a year out and have lost more than I planned to. I have some lower abdominal skin - not very much and am considering a panni

I was curious to know around how much this will cost - I have not looked into pricing yet and figured I'd ask fellow OH members that have had the procedure.

I am about 109lbs and 5'0" - I can honestly say I have about half an inch of skin maybe 3/4 of an inch - it makes my lower abdomen sag downward and just isn't pretty for me. I'm sure I could live with it but for self conscious reason I am considering having it removed. I am lucky to say from the belly button up I am happy with my body - my inner thighs sag a little but hey - can't have it all lol

I would appreciate any feedback - ALSO... was wondering if anyone with Federal BCBS has had a panni and if it was by any chance covered by the insurance - and if so how did you get it covered.

Thanks in advance

A collegue just had one. She is 50 and missed 3 weeks of work.  It cost her $7,500.  She lives in the DC metro area and that was where the doc is.

She is still seeing him to get fluid aspirated out.

Hers was NOT covered by insurance (dont know what she had).  She paid out of pocket. It was an Xmas gift to herself.

It would only be covered by insurance if it was medically necessary.  Like if it was causing rashes and infections, or was hanging so low it caused difficulty walking, stuff like that.

With that small amount to remove it may not be worth trading it for a large scar. My scar is hip to hip,  but worth it to me because I had more than you hanging.   I got mine covered (tummy tuck  Not panni) with private insurance, documented rashes and skin hanging below the pubis.

it doesn't seem that u have this problem.  The price without insurance was $8600. I pd 1000.  Plus I had already pd my deductible of $4000 for the yr. 

my inner thighs sag too :(. Oh well .....sigh

I agree with Candy. ^^^   Without evidence of several months of rashes and/or evidence that it hangs down qui a bit (usually it needs to hang below the public bone), insurance is extremely unlikely to pay for it because it isn't "medically necessary". If you only have less than an inch of excess skin, you don't have either one of those issues.  

The cost for a panniculectomy, as with a full tummy tuck, depends a LOT on what facility you use.  Having it done in a full service hospital will cost a lot more than having it done at an outpatient surgery center. (I got estimates for my tummy tuck with two different surgeons, one who used the hospital and one who used a surgery center.  It was a couple of thousand dollars more for the hospital option even though that surgeons's fee was $1000 less than the other surgeons's fee.) My panni was quite large and causing rashes and infections, so insurance paid for it. What the hospital and surgeon billed my insurance was close to $25,000, but the insurance company actually paid less than half of that, of course.  

It isn't unusual for a panniculectomy to cost close to $10,000 by the time you cover the cost of the surgeon, facility, anesthesiologist, etc..  Ironically, it is about the same cost many places as a tummy tuck with muscle tightening.  Since you have such a small amount of excess skin, though, you probably don't need a full hip to hip incision, and if you have a consultation with a surgeon who uses a surgical center, you may be able to get the excess skin removed for "just" a few thousand dollars.  I had a mons lift only (after my panniculectomy) and the surgeons's fee for that was $1700, but I was already having my arms done, so almost all of the surgery suite and anesthesiologist costs were already included in the brachioplasty cost.  

Lora