A quick question from a newby?

How easy or hard is it to tighten your skin after a Gastric Bypass? I am wanting to have the RYN done but need to find out about a couple of things first! I am wanting to loss about 150-175lbs and hope I can. But I wonder if I will have all that extra skin all over the place? Also I have heard that you can loose your hair also. Does anyone have any advise or stories they could share. Anything will help. Thanks!!!

There are many factors regarding how much "leftover" skin you will have but I think with that large a loss you'd have some hanging/wrinkling of skin on the largest areas of your bodies, i.e., stomach, upper arms, thighs, etc.  As far as I have heard there is no way to "tighten" up the skin except via plastic surgery.  You will lose hair starting at about 3 months out but not nearly all of it and it will grow back.  Again, there are folks who swear with taking Biotin to help hair loss but I haven't heard anyone who thinks it helps that much.  Those two problems are pretty much without solution but are no reason not to have the life-saving surgery.  They are surmountable.  If plastic surgery is not an option, there are wonderful shapewear garments that help hold in the skin.  You just won't be going barenaked to the pool!!! Hugs, Lana

many factors come into play for the amount of loose skin. how long it has been stretched out, your age, the flexability of your skin the amount you lose. Maybe doing heavy exercising would help some but if it is stretched out it is stretched out. Much like a piece of elastic that that no longer will stretch anymore and wont hold anything up. Im sure that i at 66 have a lot more lose skin than someone that is 20 but i will take the lose skin over being fat and unable to do anything and everything that i want to do. The life i have now is so much more fun than the life i was living or should say was dying before. I was just waiting to die and didnt care how soon it was the way i was. I no longer take 2 blood pressure pills a day plus a water pill, my cholestrol is normal, I am no longer looking at a life of diabetis. I still do have arthritis as i have done too much damage to the bones and joints by being so fat for years. but some of that can be corrected. (ie. knee surgery) Hair yes i lost a lot of it never did get bald but got really thin but it is growing back in and is i believe thicker than it was before.

Getting healthy is the main reason to do this surgery. Are you going to look like a runway model? No. but you might feel like one. So this is a tool to help you learn to eat right and to lose weight and be able to keep it off if you follow the rules and yes you have to follow them for life.   Hope this helps. Keep posting you will learn a lot on here . Welcome to the Missouri Board and hope you come back a lot.

Hi First off let me say welcome to the board. This is a great group of people here and any questions you have there will be someone here able to answer them. I would say that if you have 150 to 175 ponds to lose you will have excess skin. I am having surgery July 16th and have decided that my health is worth much more than some sagging skin. Some insurance companies will pay for the tummy tuck. I myself, don't care too much about the skin. I just want to be able to play on the floor with my grandchildren and go shopping without having to sit down to rest.  As far as the hairloss I have a friend who says she didn't lose her hair but she made sure she got all her protein in everyday. Then there are others who got their protien in and still lost some hair but it does grow back and is a small price to pay for a happier, healthier, life. Please keep us up to date if you plan to go through with the surgery and good luck to you!!!!! Take Care Hugs Chelle

Dear Mamahen: Welcome to our board-we LOVE newbies-and I am glad to meet you.  To answer your questions-it sounds like you want or need to lose a lot of weight-I did/do too. I had surgery 11/29/06 and I have lost 156# total-with 44 of that the 2 mos before surgery. I started ALL my vitamins, protein and such 2 months before surgery as well-I did/do take Biotin each day for hair loss AND have tried the hair, nail and skin vitamins as well-due to my hair being the ONE thing I really liked about myself always. It was down to my butt-LOL.....I did start losing it about 3 months out-and I have lost roughly half of my hair-but it was very thick, so I still have plenty. It wasnt anything I could avoid...I just went and got it cut and shaped-and wa~la....Would I do this all again knowing the outcome? In a heartbeat. I definitely also have hanging skin....Most noticably-my tummy, of course, under arms and thighs. I dont like the way it looks BUT-I LOVE the way I feel-its too bad that I cant look as good as I feel-LOL....But, its still worth it-and I can usually cover up the things I dont like to look at-Its a trade off. The excess skin isnt going to shorten my lifespan like the extra weight would have-and I know in the future my ins will pay for the tummy tuck and IF I decide I want or need anything else done, I will just have to save and get it done. Its worth it-I promise you. The WOW moments are almost daily for me. When I wake up happy-loving life, loving myself and my accomplishments and what I can do-you cant put a price on that...its amazing. I hope that you will make the decision thats right for you, and I hope you will keep coming back and let us get to know you. We wont sugar coat it-its not all wine and roses, thats for sure-but its ALL worth it....Good luck, Janet

Hi there Mamahen! I have not had my surgery yet, I still have 2 weeks of waiting.....................and waiting (Lol).

Here is my thought about the skin. I was a bit freaked out about that too, only because I saw what I thought was a reaction by my dear husband to someone's hanging skin. Of course he was not thinking what I jumped to the conclusion he was thinking. (always afraid of the negative reactions I guess) Anyway, I have begun to look at it like this. I am 287 lbs. @ 5ft 3(and a half) inches tall. That puts me at a BMI of 51. I am in the catagory of being super morbidly obese. Until I got interested in WLS I didn't fully understand the true dangers that I had been setting myself up for.  So, back to the skin: I have been much of a yo-yo dieter, so my skin is already hanging under my arms and on my thighs. I can't spectlate what your situation is, but I have stretched my skin out- way out! I am 42 years old, and am at the point that I am in this skin. I have worn it tight for so long, I am now ready to wear it loose for a while. As far as the hair goes...........I love my hair! I always have, even now that it is turning grey. That has been the one thing that has been a standard in drawing positive comments about my appearance. I know going in that I may lose some of my hair. To me, I am not going through this process to look better. If it ends up that I do, then I will have gotten a bonus. Good luck to you in whatever you decide. And, I hope you come back and chat with us often. Karen

Here is my situation,            I am 330lbs and am 6ft even. But I know that since I have worn my skin tight since I was like 10 that I will more than definently have alot of loose skin. I just don't want to start feeling good and then looking horrible cause all of the excess skin. I know my health is sooo much more important. But I am scared with some of the (side-effects) for a lack of a better word.  The thinmg of loosing my hair. I am knid of freaked out by that cause I to am one that LOVES my hair. I had a similar problem with losing my hair while having children. And it really freaked me out. I am so on board with losing all the weight and starting a new and better life for myself but it is all scarey to me.I know I need and want this but....................IT'S SCAREY! Thats the only was I can describe it.  I have decided to do this I have my first seminar on Monday,  June 18th. So wish me luck. Hopefully I will get to schedule an appointment with the doctor at this time. I will let every one know how it goes! Thanks agian for everyones help!!!!