Pannus Question

I'm 6 days away. Looking at some of the Before and After pics you see around here, everyone has a large pannus, as do I, but some people seemed to have it hanging in two lobes, on either side of the naval. Then, when they lose a lot of weight, you can even see the two lobes, now deflated, through their shirts. My pre-op pannus is just one big blob.

My question is, is there any relationship with the shape of the preop pannus and how likely someone is to need plastic surgery after the fact? I really want to think I'll have a flat stomach a year from now and won't have to worry about planning more surgery.

I'm sure the first, second, and third answer is "exercise," but is there anything else one can do to tighten the skin as the weight comes off?

Thanks!

but some people seemed to have it hanging in two lobes, on either side of the naval. Then, when they lose a lot of weight, you can even see the two lobes, now deflated, through their shirts. My pre-op pannus is just one big blob.

There must be a name for this; when it's really bad, I would swear that these folks have a pair of butt-cheeks front and back.  For them, if they have the $$$, I wouldn't call PS "optional". 

I'm just deflating and deflating and deflating, sagging symmetrically around my navel; I don't think I'm suffering from the aforementioned problem, yet!

I really want to think I'll have a flat stomach a year from now and won't have to worry about planning more surgery.

Optimism is a good thing, but if you're 100+ pounds overweight and have been for many years, it's unlikely that you'll get away with a "flat stomach".  Still, not everyone will need or desire plastic surgery afterwards.  I've got 60-65 pounds more to lose, so I've deferred even thinking about this until later (not that I could afford PS, even if I wanted it.)

is there anything else one can do to tighten the skin as the weight comes off?

The key is skin elasticity.  Good genes and relative youth and largely-undamaged skin all factor in.  If you've got a lot of stretch marks, that's an indication that the skin has lost its elasticity.  The stretch marks themselves often lighten and become thinner/smaller when the skin snaps back as much as it can, albeit incompletely, but they never go away.

/Steve

Sometimes the separation is caused by having open WLS. At 150 lbs over you might not have as much extra skin as you think. I lost 100 lbs and have a little inner thigh flab which has gotten better with bike riding and a little stomach flab which too is getting better with crunches, even the moobs have reduced. So I think in your case you answered your own question exercise will definitely help. To me plastics seem so extreme but if I needed it I would probably do it. But I'm a wimp and everyone I've seen go through it said it was ten times worst then WLS??? C'ya Bob

I've heard it referred to as "elephant ear" but we all know what you're talking about. I think there is a line from your navel down to your pubic area that doesn't have the same elasticity as the rest of your belly area. That said, when it deflates, that area seems to tighten in at a faster rate than the skin and fat to either side of it.

I have it to a small degree and it's only really noticeable when I wear my shirt tucked in to my pants (like for work). I have probably 3 inches of belly skin/fat that I could get rid of and then my stomach would be relatively flat. I'm still waiting to see what will happen when I reach my goal weight. Right now I am pretty much at the size I want to be with the exception of the small amount of fat around my mid-section and on my upper thighs. Those seem to be the hot spots that fat just doesn't want to loosen up from. The only other areas I have a little residual fat left over would be around my bicep/tricep area and some slight man-boobage. I'm hoping those areas will be filled in with some muscle in the months/years to come so that won't be too big a problem.