• American Bariatrics is a free online Bariatric Support Group. Register for your free account and get access to all of our great features!

Hello and excess skin question

K

Katiejane1977

Member
Hi, I’m Katie. 43 yo, in the Raleigh, NC area.
5’2” 230 lbs, overweight my whole life, as well as the women in my family.

I’m in the WakeMed bariatric program, really just got started. My mom had the sleeve a few years ago and has seen a lot of success. I think I’m leaning towards the GB, because it seems like more reliable results, rewiring your hormones, and dumping is probably a good deterrent for me.

This forum is great and has answered a lot of my questions. My remaining: for those of you who are a year out, are you struggling with excess skin? I keep envisioning my body looking like a sharpei, though a healthier body than ever. Just want to hear your stories around this so I can properly set my expectations.

Thank you!
 
GyBy
Welcome, Katie. I have people in Raleigh. They're actually related to my ex, who is also dead now but I have heard all about Raleigh and the surrounding communities for years and years. It sounds like a really beautiful place to live in.

We have one member here who actually bit the bullet and really had a major body restructure after losing more than a hundred pounds. It was an extensive surgery, combining a two or three surgeries at the same time.

I thought about having what they call a panniculectomy where they remove your lower belly flesh and liposuction your pubis area so it goes back to being normal and flat looking. But they cut you from one end of your pelvic bone to the other. They told me in no uncertain terms that this would be painful and it would be painful for a long time. So I chickened out.

I haven't ever had any desire to have any other sort of skin removal surgery and I'm perfectly happy with the way my body looks. I think it is best not to focus on excess flab. You are still very young and you may not have as much flab afterward as you think you're going to have. And many parts of the body that are flabby will respond positively to exercise and you can get your figure back without ever having a scalpel cut your skin off.

With apologies to the membership who must be so sick and tired of seeing my pictures by now, here are some photos. I lost 115 lb and I ended up looking like this.

BEFORE
2970


AFTER

2975
 
Last edited:
dianeseattle said:
Welcome, Katie. I have people in Raleigh. They're actually related to my ex, who is also dead now but I have heard all about Raleigh and the surrounding communities for years and years. It sounds like a really beautiful place to live in.

We have one member here who actually bit the bullet and really had a major body restructure after losing more than a hundred pounds. It was an extensive surgery, combining a two or three surgeries at the same time.

I thought about having what they call a panniculectomy where they remove your lower belly flesh and liposuction your pubis area so it goes back to being normal and flat looking. But they cut you from one end of your pelvic bone to the other. They told me in no uncertain terms that this would be painful and it would be painful for a long time. So I chickened out.

I haven't ever had any desire to have any other sort of skin removal surgery and I'm perfectly happy with the way my body looks. I think it is best not to focus on excess flab. You are still very young and you may not have as much flab afterward as you think you're going to have. And many parts of the body that are flabby will respond positively to exercise and you can get your figure back without ever having a scalpel cut your skin off.

With apologies to the membership who must be so sick and tired of seeing my pictures by now, here are some photos. I lost 115 lb and I ended up looking like this.

BEFORE
View attachment 2970

AFTER

View attachment 2971
Click to expand...
Thank you, you look terrific!
 
Thank you Katie. You know I am a fiend for clothes and fashion. I still have clothes I was wearing in high school. I graduated in 1969 so that should give you some idea of what a lunatic I am. However I do not know what happened to this fantastic bathing suit top. I always buy tankinis instead of one-piece or bikinis. And somehow along the road I have mislaid this beautiful flowered top. I still have the boots, which I call my Johnny Depp pirate boots and I still have the spandex pants which have zippers up the side from the ankles to mid-calf. I bought both items in a thrift store less than a year after my surgery. So that's something like 12 years that I've had these used clothes. I still haunt Thrift stores.

The best thrift store to go to, in my opinion, is Saint Vincent de Paul. There is a larger selection of high-quality items there because most of the donations that come in are from lovely Catholic ladies who passed away with all their beautiful fur coats and fancy China and their book collections and shoes. They are all in excellent condition because these women only wore them to church and charity functions so they didn't wear them out at all.
 
My wife had excess skin removed from her abdomen, her thighs, her upper arms and had a breast reduction. She had a RYBG and waited for about 1-1.5 years until she was certain she had lost all of what she was going to lose. It took two separate surgeries, but it was something that meant a lot to her, so she had it done. She has never regretted a single moment of it. She looks absolutely amazing now but more importantly, she feels good about herself and loves how she looks.....it was well worth it to see the transformation in her emotionally. She lost excess skin and gained a whole new self confidence. I got dragged to clothing stores every weekend when she could finally shop at normal sized clothing stores and I oohed and aaahed as she tried on a million outfits.... lol, it was well worth the time and effort to see her beaming at her new self. That was 12 years ago and she still looks and feels amazing.
 
I lost over 200 lbs and had a lot of excess skin, but it was easy to hide in clothes. I had it removed in two surgeries when I was about three years out because it was driving ME nuts, but no one else knew it was there (by the way, unrelated, I love my RNY, but...I don't dump. About 70% of us don't. But even given that, I'd still do the RNY again. I've been very happy with it!!)

here's a picture of me BEFORE I had plastic surgery. Notice any excess skin? I can assure you I had a LOT of it (and at a 230 lb starting weight, you'll likely have a lot less than I did...)
 

Attachments

  • prepscrop.JPG
    prepscrop.JPG
    123.3 KB · Views: 180
rhondahigdon said:
What about the cost of this kind of surgery? That is another whole issue. Does anyone know if the insurance pays for the bypass surgery, does it usually pay for the cost of excess skin removal? I am just curious. THanks
Click to expand...
insurance didn't cover any of mine. Some policies will cover it - or some of it - if you have medical issues because of the loose skin, for example, chronic rashes that don't clear up with standard treatments. So if you have something like that, be sure to see your doctor so it's documented in your medical records. You'll need that documentation if/when you try to get insurance coverage. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), I didn't have any issues like that, so I had to self-pay.

I was told when I started researching this about three years ago to expect about $8K-$10K per procedure, with the lower body lift counting as two procedures since they do front and back. I found this pretty much rang true when I did my three consults (I also did an email consult with a well-known plastic surgeon in Mexico - his estimate was about half that, IIRC). So the lower body lift, breast lift, and arm lift I wanted (and got) was four procedures. I think I paid about $39,000 for the whole thing - so that guideline I was given was right on the money.

I've seen people recently post what their estimates were, and it doesn't seem like they've come up too much in the last three years, but of course it's going to depend on a few things - for example, you'll probably pay more for a nationally-known surgeon or someone with many years of experience, and you're also likely to pay more in places like New York, Chicago, and LA than you will in someplace like Knoxville, Tennessee - so there's that, too...
 
Cat, I don't think I welcomed you to the group so let me do that now. I've already met Rhonda virtually.

I think Brenda2010 will probably weigh in on this. She is the resident expert on body sculpting, including the lift that you talked about.

But if she doesn't post, make a point of using the search function and finding her posts on the topic. She has a pretty amazing story and she was extremely committed. I do not think I would be taking out a bank loan or getting myself into debt for a body lift.

I considered a panniculectomy because of my overhanging apron of flesh on my belly and my fat pubis, which gives a woman the appearance of having a package, if you boys know what I mean. I would have been able to have it as a covered procedure because I grew yeast under my apron so severely that it was just constant pain. I also had the stank you get from a yeast infection.

I was advised that the panniculectomy was an extremely painful surgery and recovery. The prohibition against driving after you have a panniculectomy is like 3 months.

I got all the approvals I needed and for whatever balance existed the hospital was going to give me Charitable Care, as they did with my RYGB. They told me that the incision went from outer pelvic bone to outer pelvic bone completely across the abdomen. And they used liposuction on the belly and the pubis. Then they did what amounted to a tummy tuck.

But I chickened out. One reason why was that I lived in a basement room and I would have been prohibited from using stairs for several weeks. But the real reason is that I just didn't think I could deal with the pain.
 
dianeseattle said:
GyBy
Welcome, Katie. I have people in Raleigh. They're actually related to my ex, who is also dead now but I have heard all about Raleigh and the surrounding communities for years and years. It sounds like a really beautiful place to live in.

We have one member here who actually bit the bullet and really had a major body restructure after losing more than a hundred pounds. It was an extensive surgery, combining a two or three surgeries at the same time.

I thought about having what they call a panniculectomy where they remove your lower belly flesh and liposuction your pubis area so it goes back to being normal and flat looking. But they cut you from one end of your pelvic bone to the other. They told me in no uncertain terms that this would be painful and it would be painful for a long time. So I chickened out.

I haven't ever had any desire to have any other sort of skin removal surgery and I'm perfectly happy with the way my body looks. I think it is best not to focus on excess flab. You are still very young and you may not have as much flab afterward as you think you're going to have. And many parts of the body that are flabby will respond positively to exercise and you can get your figure back without ever having a scalpel cut your skin off.

With apologies to the membership who must be so sick and tired of seeing my pictures by now, here are some photos. I lost 115 lb and I ended up looking like this.

BEFORE
View attachment 2970

AFTER

View attachment 2975
Click to expand...
You look amazing
 
Katiejane1977 said:
Hi, I’m Katie. 43 yo, in the Raleigh, NC area.
5’2” 230 lbs, overweight my whole life, as well as the women in my family.

I’m in the WakeMed bariatric program, really just got started. My mom had the sleeve a few years ago and has seen a lot of success. I think I’m leaning towards the GB, because it seems like more reliable results, rewiring your horm

This forum is great and has answered a lot of my questions. My remaining: for those of you who are a year out, are you struggling with excess skin? I keep envisioning my body looking like a sharpei, though a healthier body than ever. Just want to hear your stories around this so I can properly set my expectations.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Katiejane1977 said:
This forum is great and has answered a lot of my questions. My remaining: for those of you who are a year out, are you struggling with excess skin? I keep envisioning my body looking like a sharpei, though a healthier body than ever. Just want to hear your stories around this so I can properly set my expectations.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Nice to meet you. I have lost just over 100 lbs., and I have excess skin in my neck, arms, thighs, and around my core. My butt looks very much looks like a sharpei. :) I’ve had a couple minor skin issues. One 4 weeks after surgery in my belly button as the skin creased there and it’s hard to keep dry, and a small sore on my lower abdomen from the friction on the fragile skin. I went to my primary for both to get them treated and documented.

I know the hanging skin is there, but I’m not at all disgusted by it. I just tuck it into my pants and bra and carry on right now. Hope all goes well with your surgery!
 
I had my body contouring surgery this February, 11 months after my RNY. I had a 360 degree lower body lift, brachioplasty (arm lift), and breast reduction/lift. I went with an expert in this field. This is all he does, post weight-loss body contouring, so was able to do it in a single surgery. If you've been obese for years or have done extreme yo-yo-ing, your skin looses it's elasticity. Your run of the mill plastic surgeon doesn't have the expertise to deal with this type of skin and tissue.

Yes, it's a huge investment but the way I see it, you only get one body. If I'd take a loan out for a car or house I love, I should value my body just as much. I couldn't be more thrilled with the results. I had lost 127 pounds before body contouring, he took off another 10.2 pounds of skin, and I've since lost just over 20 more. I'm still numb where my nerves were severed but it can take over a year for nerves to regenerate after such an extreme surgery. My scars are getting lighter and will continue to fade. Below are a couple pics of me in the days and weeks following my surgery. The "pie-crust" style of stitching he uses is genius in the beginning to prevent pulling on the actual incisions:

3112


This is my transformation since the beginning of my journey:

3114
 
Brenda2010 said:
I had my body contouring surgery this February, 11 months after my RNY. I had a 360 degree lower body lift, brachioplasty (arm lift), and breast reduction/lift. I went with an expert in this field. This is all he does, post weight-loss body contouring, so was able to do it in a single surgery. If you've been obese for years or have done extreme yo-yo-ing, your skin looses it's elasticity. Your run of the mill plastic surgeon doesn't have the expertise to deal with this type of skin and tissue.

Yes, it's a huge investment but the way I see it, you only get one body. If I'd take a loan out for a car or house I love, I should value my body just as much. I couldn't be more thrilled with the results. I had lost 127 pounds before body contouring, he took off another 10.2 pounds of skin, and I've since lost just over 20 more. I'm still numb where my nerves were severed but it can take over a year for nerves to regenerate after such an extreme surgery. My scars are getting lighter and will continue to fade. Below are a couple pics of me in the days and weeks following my surgery. The "pie-crust" style of stitching he uses is genius in the beginning to prevent pulling on the actual incisions:

View attachment 3112

This is my transformation since the beginning of my journey:

View attachment 3114
Click to expand...


Did you have your body contouring surgery done in the U.S. or another country? You look AMAZING!!!
 
TraceyT said:
Did you have your body contouring surgery done in the U.S. or another country? You look AMAZING!!!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! I had it done here in the US. I went with Dr. Joseph Capella in NJ. I was scheduled with Dr. Sauceda in Mexico first but ended up cancelling once I met Dr. Capella. He literally co-authored a book on body contouring post weight loss. Once he had hands on me and showed me what I could look like, I fell in love with him, hahaha... And I live in NY so in the end, it was worth the extra $10-$12,000 for me to have my doctor just 2 hours away for drain removals and follow-ups. I'm sure Dr. Sauceda's results would have been just as good but there's no way I could fly back and forth to Mexico for drain removals and follow ups. Or to stay in Mexico for a month. Most patients of his from the US will remove their own stitches and drains when they're ready at home but that thought made me too queezy!
 
Hi Brenda, So happy to see your post, your photos are amazing. Even your original photo, pre surgery shows your beautiful smile. I think that in all of your posts, your smile comes through. You are truly an inspiration. I hope in this crazy time you are doing well. My surgery was on August 17th and I'm currently in the pureed phase of the diet. I go back to the surgeon on the 14th of Sept. I still cant believe I'm on the other side of my journey. Please take care. YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!!!!
 
Roseanne37 said:
Hi Brenda, So happy to see your post, your photos are amazing. Even your original photo, pre surgery shows your beautiful smile. I think that in all of your posts, your smile comes through. You are truly an inspiration. I hope in this crazy time you are doing well. My surgery was on August 17th and I'm currently in the pureed phase of the diet. I go back to the surgeon on the 14th of Sept. I still cant believe I'm on the other side of my journey. Please take care. YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!!!!
Click to expand...
Hi Roseanne! I'm so thrilled for you, I hope you're feeling good and things are getting easier. I remember being tired a lot the first month. The pureed stage was tough, looking back at it now though, it seems like it was so long ago even though it was only a year and a half. Crazy how time flies! I hope you and your family are making the best of this insane time and staying safe and healthy. And thank you so much for your kind words, they mean a lot to me. :) You are such a kind and warm person, I can't wait for you to share some pics!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top