Why-Loose Skin....???

 
Maybe he is poking fun but if he isn't directing it at a specific person, who cares?  We all get to the point where we have to laugh at ourselves a little.

I wonder if you wouldn't be as sensitive if you were farther out.  You just had surgery a few days ago and the first month is extremely emotional.  Someone just had to look at me for the first month and I would burst out in tears.  Commercials even made me cry. ;o)

"For a long time the skin issue was one reason I didn't want to go through with the surgery"

I guess this is one of the things those of us who don't see it the same way have trouble understanding. I absolutely grant that it's a legit feeling because several people have said it, but it makes no sense to me. When I weighed 319 lbs (lifetime high was 335) my body was blobby and droopy and very ugly - plus my health sucked. Now the loose skin is droopy, and naked it's still a little ugly. But first and most importantly my health doesn't suck and secondly at least I look fabulous in clothes if not out of them.

I'm married and my husband married me fat (I've been obese my entire life, child and adult) so he's not a fat-hater. But I asked him about this issue and he says I look more attractive thin and with droopy skin than I did fat. Now, would I rather have the taut skin of someone who was never obese? Absolutely, but I find the idea that someone would rather be blobby and unhealthy rather than droopy and healthy difficult to understand.

So to me, vanity says lose the weight. Get plastics if you want and can, but even if you can't you're far, far better off.

My exception to this is folks who have a large panel that develop infections and irritations. I think insurances should be required to cover removal of this for health reasons.

Oh, I'm absolutely going to get plastics and I'm always plotting how I'm going to swing it. I just think me, at my age, having that much skin does make me sad and I think there are many things on this journey that make a lot of people sad. Skin is a big deal. When I said that it was one issue, it was just on my list of reasons to not have surgery, it wasn't a determining factor because otherwise I just wouldn't  have had the surgery. When I first looked into surgery I was almost 100 pounds lighter than I was when I had the surgery and I was 5 years younger than I am now. I also didn't have comorbidities. The skin issue weighed more heavily then because I felt like I could get away with not having surgery. I know that there are a lot of people out there who do hesitate to have surgery partially because of skin issues and even though that view isn't necessarily agreed upon here, I wanted to voice it because it's real.

Am I sad and scared about the loose skin? Yes. Do I feel that it's going to make finding a partner more difficult? Yes. But, I chose to have the surgery anyway (actually it really wasn't an option at that point) and I will find the money to chop this **** off. I have posted here multiple times that when I chose to have the surgery I was in a very low place and I would have rather been dead than to stay in my body. Of course I didn't give a **** about skin at that point but I sure did when I was smaller with no health issues.

So sorry that you are dealing with this and even at one point allowed the fear of skin deter you from your health.  I'm vain as vain comes and while I hoped and prayed it wouldn't happen to be I prepared for it to happen to me.  I started researching and SAVING my dimes and pennies a year before I had WLS because well I'm vain =)

I had a girlfriend who was the pioneer for ME to look at WLS and when I had my plastics and other dynamics in our lives, she made the comment "well Michelle everyone can't be like you!"  While I'm vain and SPECIAL everyone CAN be like me...it just takes money and while I don't have any...I was determined to NOT look in the mirror and hate my body!!

With that said I'll let you and Frisco continue.

Ms Shell

Too bad they deleted our convo.

At what age did you guys have surgery?

 

Wow I had to restart my response because I had to go back to remember what  year I had surgery.

I was 37 - Surgery 11/2007

Highest weight - 345
Date of surgery weight - 302.6
Original Goal weight  - 195
Plastics Round 1 - 10/2009
Plastics Round 2 - 7/2010
Plastics Round 3 - pending regain loss and maintain for 6 months to make sure I'm ready (AGAIN)
Revised Goal - 180

I agree that loose skin should not be a determining factor in deciding whether or not to have wls, especially in patients who have comorbidities. I would rather have loose skin than diabetes any day! I have made my decision and followed through.

However, as a relatively young woman (29) who lives on a teacher's salary and has student loan debt, credit card bills, a mortgage, etc etc, and who wants to be able to have a family some day, the idea that I have ruined my skin to the point where it will never look normal without yet another surgery, and one that I might never be able to afford, is a bit scary. I mean, God willing, I have another 50 years or so with this skin... that's a long time to have it sagging all over the place, making me uncomfortable, etc etc. I can't say that it doesn't bother me a little. I'm just choosing to put it on the proverbial backburner for now and focus on my health.

Besides, the loose skin is just one more topic that gets posted here on a just about daily basis. While you may not see the need for concern, apparently there are lots of people who disagree, and I do feel like posting something like this is in poor taste when there are so many people who need our support and who might not come back if they feel like you are making fun of them.

Just my two cents, said with the upmost respect.

Well I guess you should have thought about that before you stretched your underwear passed it's limit!

I agree though, it shouldn't be a determining factor when it comes to comorbidities and once I had them I had to get over the skin thing real quick. Someone here said "loose skin filled with fat or loose skin without the fat." I think about that everything I start staring at my arm jiggly and my stomach. Makes me feel better to realize that I was going to have that amount of skin regardless, full or empty. I guess that's common sense to everyone but me though.

Actually, had never thought of it in quite the terms of "the skin will be there whether the fat is there or not."  That actually does make perfect sense, but I don't think it's "common sense."  If it was, we wouldn't see so many posts about this all the time. 

I love it. I wish I remembered who wrote it so I could make it a quote. They're my hero. Unfortunately it's something we all have to accept since we did this to ourselves but I just don't think it's black and white. I feel that it's an emotional process for a lot of people.