Body contouring rare after weight loss surgery

Body contouring rare after weight loss surgery

This grabbed my attention -- "Body contouring rare after weight loss surgery" -- WHAT?  No way.  

• How many of us have actually gone through body contouring since losing weight?   
• How many want to have plastics, but haven't due to various reasons including cost?  

The second demographic includes me --  I would have jumped into plastics pretty immediately after losing weight had I the finances at the time.  Later, it became a health issue, I've delayed the process to deal with other more pressing matters.  (I stopped the process of reconstructive surgery pretty last minute due having a grand mal seizure for the first time in front of my plastic surgeon.  Coincidence.)

I wonder sometimes if I will ever get the opportunity to have this excess skin removed, and I am sure thousands of us are out there.

What about you?

Body contouring rare after weight loss surgery

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients rarely have excess skin removed after weight loss surgery, although it can be a bother for people who've shed a lot of pounds, a new poll suggests.

Plastic surgeons said patients either don't know about this extra surgery, called body contouring, or simply can't afford it.

Yet it's more than just a cosmetic procedure, said Dr. Jason Spector, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) in Denver this week.

"It is surgery that improves patients' quality of life," Spector, of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, told Reuters Health.

The excess skin that is left after severe weight loss can get in the way of exercising, interfere with patients' ability to wear clothes properly and cause rashes and serious infections.

Spector said weight loss surgery, also called bariatric surgery, is "just the first step" for patients.

"In order to complete the journey, patients really do need to undergo the appropriate post-bariatric body contouring. Even though that has a slightly cosmetic ring to it, it's certainly something that we, as plastic surgeons, would consider reconstructive," he explained.

Body contouring after weight loss surgery is akin to breast reconstruction after mastectomy, a procedure which is now mandated by law in New York State and paid for by insurance companies.

To get a sense of how many patients were actually going on to have body contouring surgery, Spector and his team mailed a survey to 1,158 patients whose operations were done by two surgeons between 2003 and 2011. They received 284 responses.

Only a quarter of the patients said they discussed body contouring with their surgeon around the time of the operation, with about 12 percent actually undergoing the procedure.

"This was strikingly low," Spector said.

The most frequent reasons for not having body contouring were expense and lack of awareness of the procedure. Nearly 40 percent of the patients said they might have chosen differently if they had received more information.

According to Healthcare Blue Book, a consumer guide to healthcare costs, body contouring comes with a price tag of about $13,000.

The flabby excess skin can pose a very real danger, Spector said. He described a patient whose overhanging skin was caught underneath the electronically controlled seat of her car as she was adjusting it.

"A large piece of skin was ripped off and caused a big open wound and subsequent infection. Up to that point, her insurance company had told her, 'Sorry, you can't have the surgery. You don't need it.' So we're not talking small bits here."

Dr. Malcolm Z. Roth, from Albany Medical Center and the newly-elected president of the ASPS, welcomed the new findings.

"It was painfully obvious to me as a plastic surgeon practicing in the community that this was an issue," he told Reuters Health. "It's good to finally have some data."

Roth added that patients need to consider that having weight loss surgery is not the end of their journey.

"Patients need to realize it's not just a slam dunk. When they lose the weight, at the end of the rainbow, there may not be a pot of gold. It may be that they have another rainbow to navigate to get to the pot of gold, and it may take several operations to take care of the excess skin on the abdomen, thighs, arms, breasts, face and neck. We would hope that bariatric surgeons would present this information to patients, but we also want patients to become educated, themselves."

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"The flabby excess skin can pose a very real danger, Spector said. He described a patient whose overhanging skin was caught underneath the electronically controlled seat of her car as she was adjusting it.

"A large piece of skin was ripped off and caused a big open wound and subsequent infection. Up to that point, her insurance company had told her, 'Sorry, you can't have the surgery. You don't need it.' So we're not talking small bits here."

 OUCH!

Lindsey

Sexy, right? 

 My insurance will pay for a panniculectomy if I document issues.  And you bet your ass I'm going to document issues.  I'll have to make up the difference to make it a tummy tuck but that shouldn't bee too much.  But I know I'll want my breasts reduced and lifted.  My husband already promised years ago that if I lost the weight we would have that done.  The only thing that worries me is I know it is EXTREMELY painful.  Not sure how I'm going to deal, but first I need to get the weight off.  First things first.

I just had an panniculectomy done a month ago.   For me it wasn't that bad.  It was just ackky at times.  People kept telling me how painful it was. There must be something wrong with me because I breezed through it.  My surgeon did give me pain pills that I did take one at night.

 I was talking about the boobs!  I've heard the reduction and lift is quite a long recovery from a few poeple I know in person who have had it.

I have to save for a boob job.  My surgeon charges $5000 for a lift and $7000 with inserts.  At 56, I can wait a year or two.

Unless you have extremely low or zero tolerance to pain it is NOT extremely painful.  You have given birth (I am assuming) to several children.  Plastic surgery is nothing compared to that. 
I had breast reduction, tummy tuck and hernia repair three weeks ago, and you would never know unless you have seen me before.  I could not be happier and I will do the DS and the PS all over again in a heartbeat. 
So, just prepare yourself well, with extra protein and vitamins, get yourself a very good and experienced, certified doctor, and go for it.  You will be glad you did and sorry you did not do it earlier.

Good luck. 

I have attended 3 WLS seminars for 3 different surgeons/programs and only 1 of them mentioned plastic surgery after WLS. 

It seems,  from what I have seen here on OH,  that the panniculectomy is the most common since some insurance MAY cover it.  As for myself,  (I am pre-op, btw) I will definitely be looking into the panniculectomy, but any other plastic/body contouring surgery will be too expensive for me.

I saw a plastic surgeon last month and for the value price of $7000.00 I can have the body of a 25 year old.
$7000.00
Ummm.  Probably not.  I have a kid going to Europe for a music program next summer.  The SAME one will be going to college two years after that, with two more following him...
It just doesn't seem right to spend money on plastics with THOSE THINGS to take care of.
Plastics appeal to me because I feel like I have ravaged my body with my morbid obesity.  This saggy-ass, wrinkly, crepey, lumpy home for my soul depresses me.  I take full responsibility and because I am a "fixer", I think I need to DO something.
Maybe that something should include a little Spanx action.  Do they make Spanx for my upper arms?
Anyway, it's a matter of priorities.  Even if I could afford it, I wouldn't do it now.  My 47 year old husband was born with an ear deformity and after a year of consultation and a lifetime of waiting, he is getting the remnant removed next month and a prosthetic after the first of the year.  Right now is his time!!! 
MM, sorry you got  beat up with your band post...
And I'm sorry your RNY is broked.  That sucks.
Glad your tummy is better and your avi really is gorgeous!