A little disappointed...

I went to my first pre-op support group last night and the speaker was a plastic surgeon talking about the different surgeries people have after WLS, etc.  When he was done, a woman asked what we could do to avoid having to go see him and have other surgeries and he basically said there's nothing we can do and most WLS patients have to have other procedures because the exercise, etc, can't do anything for excess skin.  I want to know if there's anyone here who hasn't had to have another procedure, because I'm trying to get on the bowflex and treadmill to tone up before surgery.

Therese

I'm sure there are folks who don't have excess skin who've lost significant weight - but I agree with the surgeon, most of us will have too much after losing 100-150-200 lbs or more.  It's common sense to know that if the skin is stretched that much, nothing you can do to exercise will make the skin bounce back completely.  I think alot of it has to do with how overweight you are, how OLD you are, how long have you been overweight, where do you carry your weight, etc.

Now me...I've been overweight most of my life, I was 40 when I lost 150 lbs, I carried it mostly in the middle...and there was no exercise that was going to make all that belly skin go away.  My plastic surgeon also said if you have stretch marks, that means the skin is damaged as well.  I think I was able to tone up my arms enough to avoid surgery, but then my arms weren't that heavy to begin with.  I had a lower body lift (cut all the way around) and a breast lift.  Best money I ever spent (or borrowed in my case!)  It was the icing on the weight loss cake so to speak.  For the first time in my life, I have a waistline and a flat tummy.  I can wear high cut undies and not have my gut hanging out the bottom.

Don't fret too much about plastics.  Just get the weight off, get healthy, exercise sensibly and see what happens.  We are all different.

Good Luck!

I am only a year out, but I was very scheduled/obsessed with my exercising and wt. lifting and I feel pretty comfortable in my body. The wt. lifting really does help you tone, and getting in all your water helps to keep your elasticity in your skin good, also building the muscle helps you burn more calories. I started exercising a few months before my surgery and kept it up. Oh, someone else also told me to wait 2 yrs. after your wt. loss to give your skin a chance to shrink up.

HIJACK -

LOOKIE WHO MADE AN APPEARANCE!!!?!!  Hey GF!  Good to see you post!

Anything new to share?? 

Darla I Love You! ! !

It's really a case-by-case situation, in my opinion.  I lost 110 lbs, and I'm ok without surgery.  My stomach is the worst part.  It isn't super tight, but I'm 42 years old, so I wouldn't expect it to be.  I'm not wearing bikini's or short tops, so it doesn't really matter.  My friends who have had children have as bad or considerably worse loose skin on their stomachs.  I can wear pants with fitted shirts and I don't have skin hanging over.  I moisturized all the time, as well as exercised, and I firmly believe the combination saved me from needing plastic surgery.  But that's me.  I've seen others who have lost less and had much more loose skin.  It really is different for everybody.  I've also noticed that it's gotten better in the past year.  I lost my weight really fast, and had a lot of loose skin right away.  I kept moisturizing and exercising, and it's toned up more in the last year.  Just do your best and give it time - you may not need surgery.

Hey Therese -

I can only speak for me, but MAMA do I have the "shar pei" skin!  (I shall refrain from using my preferred term for it...)  Do I like it?  Heck no - but the nasty skin is a SMALL PRICE to pay for my health, being nearly 1/2 the size I was 21 months ago, having energy and knowing I'm not going to leave my children motherless while they're still young!

Do I want a bikini body? Okay, there might be a nugget or two in my brain that entertained the notion for a nano-second, once...  but it is SOOOOO not important to me.  If $$ was no object?   I might do it.  But I might not.  I've heard it's NOT a fun surgery to recover from (LBL).  I personally don't think I'm vain enough to put myself through that, and I'm PLENTY vain. 

Just lose the weight first.  Give your body at least a year at goal before you make any such decision.  This whole WLS is hard enough without filling your brain with anxiety over the skin issues.

Recalling the term Darla has for it... I think about that all the time when I look at my armpits! It's grosses me out...but then that term makes me laugh.  So, dear Darla...I thank you for that.

I was trying on jeans ( size 14 by the way hehe ) at Target today and caught of a glimpse of my inner thighs from behind in the mirror. eek, thinkin' nothing  is gonna fix that!  But...wow, do I feel great.

Hi Therese

Plastic surgery is such an individual decision. I lost 140 pounds in 13 months. I have had my arms done. My surgeon took off 1 pound and 6 inches from each arm. I wasn't able to shave and had rashes really bad. I had my tummy done because the skin was hanging almost to my knees. He took off about 8 pounds of skin. Once your skin has stretch marks, that is damaged skin and nothing will shrink it back. If you don't have back stretch marks you might be okay.

Age sometimes make a difference, but my 24 year old daughter had alot of loose skin and stretch marks after losing 110 pound with her RNY and she had to have the skin removed as well.

In my situation, I felt that when the skin was interferring with my quality of life, meaning I couldn't exercise and was having health issues because of it, I realized that that was the time to consider having the skin removed to improve my quality of life.

Just curious, who was the plastic surgeon that did your support group?

Take care.
Peggy