How much surgery is too much at one time?

Had WLS surgery 12/01 and have lost 130 lbs.  Had several PS consultations and have picked my surgeon.  He said I could get a body lift, brachioplasty and thigh lift at the same time.  Is this too much in one surgery?  Wondering what the recovery would be like and the pain/recovery?
Anyone have this quantity of issues handled in one OR visit? 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

I just had brachioplasty last Friday (one week ago).  I can't imagine having any "lower" body surgeries at the same time.  Not being able to use my arms (to get out of bed, etc.) I have used my legs and abdomen to help me get up and down. 

That is my perspective on the situation.  I know I have read on this forum that many people have done multiple procedures at once.  My PS surgeon prefers not to do upper and lower work at the same time.  That has worked best for me.  I will do lower work in about 3 months.

Congratulations on your weight loss and on your upcoming surgery!

Brooke

 Brooke,
That's what I was thinking.  How can I get out of bed with pain from arms - legs - abdomen.  On my next visit, I will talk about my concerns and scale back this surgery

I'm a big baby with pain so I can imagine my family during my recovery if I did it all at once.

Colleen

 Brooke,
How did the arm surgery go?  What level of pain? How do your arms look?
Congrats with that surgery!  That's one I'm really looking forward to - maybe more than my legs!

Colleen

Surgery went well.  I went to surgery at 7:30 am and was home by 2 pm.  I also have a cut on my side under the pits that removed some of that under arm bra fat!  I can't take Vicodin...it makes me have a terrible headache.  So, all I had was Tylenol with Codine and Phernegan (for nausea).  The first couple of days the pain was pretty intense, meaning the medicine didn't help much.  But, I made it and tried to go without any pain meds on Thanksgiving Day.  Mistake.  One pain pill about every 8 hours now helps.  I am a baby with pain!  Mixing it with the nausea medicine helps me sleep. 

My arms were larger than most.  If fact, my surgeon said I was the largest arm case he has done.  LOVELY!  I see a revision in the future, but they are MUCH BETTER than they were.  I have pictures to post when I put them on my computer!

Good luck to you!

Brooke

I had a complete lower body lift with a anchor cut...inner thigh lift.. breast lift with implants..and brachioplasty done all at the same time.     I would do it all over again as i had no problems.  I was out of the hospital in under 48 hours and a day later i was out shopping.   The only pain killers  i took were a tylenol every 8 hours for a few days.  Everyone is different though and only you know what you can handle.  
   Good Luck

   TammyLynne

I consulted with 5 plastic surgeons here - none would do that much in one procedure.  At the time, I was disappointed because I felt that I just wanted to have 1 surgery and get it over.  They felt that it would compromise my safety as a paitient, and that they would have to rush their work and the results would not be as good as it could be.  It takes a long time to close that mu*****ision - even with another skilled plastic surgeon helping. 

My procedures were divided up like this -- and this was very similar to how they all wanted to divide the surgeries:

Stage 1 LBL with BL - I had auto augmentation of my breast with my own tissues

Stage 2 -  Legs because this was the next area of greatest concern on my list.

Stage 3 - Arms - and if I wanted implants most surgeons would do them here instead of at the time of my lift to allow the breast to heal first from the lift, and then place implants.  Only 1 surgeon felt that the implants were really a good choice for me.  I'd like more fullness at the top, but I don't want the droopy skin hanging off, and my tissues are really thin.  Also, I don't want big breasts again - been there, done that.  I am happy with my full C - even if they aren't full at the top.  I can deal with that!

I had a small revision to my thighs again when I had my arms/flanks done.  It's about an 8 in*****ision on the upper right thigh, and it does not cross into my groin.  It was hard with just that for the first day or two and dealing with my arms.  My surgeon absolutely refuses to do arms and legs at the same time because there is too much immobility for the patient right after surgery and that could lead to blood clots.

While doing it all at once can seem ideal, there are lots of things to consider.  I would get some other professional opinions and see what they think as well.  Some things are safe to combine, but others push the limits.  I knew someone who was going to Costa Rica and doing it all at once including his face.  He was planning a 20+ hour procedure to save money and such.  I would have to ask myself if the surgeon would really be at his best in that long of a procedure.

Just my thoughts,

 I'm not sure there is much lipo.  There will be a lot of skin removal/contouring.  My BL is a revision to a tummy tuck I had 10 years ago, so perhaps it's not as drastic of a BL as with someone who never had one before.  My legs are very giggly and calves will be lipo'd and the vertical incision down the inner thigh.  The surgeon is extremely experienced in these surgeries and his practice is 100% dedicated to post-bariatric patients.  I don't doubt that he's done a lot of these surgeries successfully, but with my low pain tolerance, it might not be good for me.  My previous TT had muscle tightening and boy was it painful.

Just want to come out of this successfully and have it done with and then look forward to a lower face lift to finish the work.  

Jeez, the PS is more angst ridden than the WLS.  With the WLS I wanted to get in control of the weight now I just want to survive the surgery and move forward.

Colleen

I sounds like a lot to me, but I have another question (and I'm still not sure if this is the source of the issues I'm having with anxiety about submitting to additional procedures after my facelife and brachioplasty) -- how much lipo is involved?  I'm currently of the opinion that the lipo was the most painful part of the procedures I had, and what is causing the most pain now almost 4 weeks later.

Four of the 6 surgeons I consulted with said Lipo is the worst part and causes most of the swelling.  I had a brachio in March and other than the armpit had no pain in the arms.  I had Lipo on the arms at the end of July and I'm still sore from it!  The lipo was MUCH worse than the surgery. 

I've seen others post that the lipo they do later is worse than the actual surgery.