Update on my WLS journey and question.

[GeneC74]

Just visited with my surgeon, and in 6 months have lost 133 lbs. I need to lose 6 more pounds to achieve my surgery goal weight. I have dropped 5 shirt sizes, and my pants size has dropped 22 inches. I am so happy and surprised at the new face I see in the mirror every morning. My biggest issue and I have a feeling this is the same for most of you is how do I pay for my skin surgery? I am disabled double amputee and living on disability with my wife and our 4 school age children. She works hard everyday but it takes every penny we have to make ends meet. I take care of the kids, homeschooling due to covid, and do the housework(cooking cleaning and of course my least favorite laundry) I am saddened that insurance won't cover the skin surgery. For all of us who have lost a bunch of weight. This is not a vanity surgery. This is a quality of life surgery. Psychologically this is depressing, but also affects you physically with the frequent skin breakdowns and those are quite painful(I clean under my flap twice a day and use gold bond spray to keep it dry and clean) not to mention the risk of infections developing. Anybody have any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[eladams2015]

I have heard of skin surgery being covered to remove the "apron" and things that inhibit movement... You have to have well documented issues with infections, etc. Many times, the bariatric surgeon will have plastic surgeons in their group or have someone they refer to.

 

[dianeseattle]

Welcome to the group, Gene, and congratulations on your phenomenal weight loss.

El is correct. I went to a cosmetic surgeon to discuss my apron, and I'm female so I had additional fat in what you would call the pubis area. It would have been a huge surgery but I was told by the cosmetic surgeons that I didn't have enough apron hanging to qualify for the surgery insurance-wise. There was no way I could pay for it myself.

You might try a GoFundMe page. They work surprisingly well if your story is good. I think a lot of people would like to help out a double amputee who is disabled and has health problems related to skin folds. I know that in my case I was always getting yeast infections under my apron. I actually had to go to 4 different doctors to document this problem and then I would have qualified for charity care and they would have done the surgery at no cost. But frankly, I just chickened out.

If your skin folds are significant, I would definitely post a link to a GoFundMe page with your story, including photos, and see what happens.

Again, congratulations and welcome.