Hi folks,

I had a TT 5/18 including muscle tightening. Once I was released I started doing regular ab work as part of my exercise routine. My PS said that he tightened the muscles as much as he could but that 30+ years of being MO/SMO had stretched things out and that I may never be "flat."

After a year, my abs are very strong but my upper abs still bulge somewhat and my lower abs are a little poochy. The problem is that even now I can get ab cramps even when I haven't been working out really hard. Sometimes it's almost like a charley horse. Anybody else have this?

Also just wondering if I can ever get muscle separation/definition.

Any thoughts or experience?

please give your advice as I looking to have surgery next month.

Hi Louise,

Thank you so much for sharing the Gallbladderattack.com web site with me. Im finding some great information. Helen

is there a medical school in your area? that is where i am going. i went there 19 yrs ago and am going back to the same surgeon. sure it is a ways to drive, like close to 100 miles but definitely worth it. good luck

check out www.realself.com There are a lot of patient reviews in there - of all kinds of doctors, but the majority are plastic surgeons. Make a list of all the plastic surgeons in your area, and then go to their Web sites and see if you can tell if a majority of their work is doing body contouring for massive weight loss patients. And check all the reviews you can find, too. Then narrow it down to 3-5 surgeons and schedule consults with them.

I don't know of anyone off hand who specializes in it in St Louis (but then, I wasn't looking in that area), but make sure the person at minimum does a boatload of them. It's a complicated subspecialty, so you want someone who does a lot of these things, not just three or four times a year.