Posted by Gregg
on January 20, 2008, 8:54 am, in reply to "Did you need cosmetic surgery after weightloss?"
76.237.9.25
Thanks for your question, Steven.
After I kept the weight off for a couple of years, I finally decided to have surgery to remove the excess skin. Sadly, for me, all of the loose skin didn’t retract after it had been stretched out for years and years (I had been overweight since first grade and didn’t lose weight until after college).
This loose skin dilemma can be true for many people and is not something that’s often discussed in the diet industry. Even when eating right, exercising and being at my ideal weight for years, I had “flabs” of skin that I had to deal with. It bothered me as much psychologically as it did physically. So I finally decided to visit a surgeon and see what my options were.
Insurance would not cover the surgery, so I ended up charging it to credit cards. I found a very reputable, very realistic surgeon and ended up having over a yard and a half of loose skin removed from my chest, my upper arms, my abdomen and my upper thighs. The surgery took over 7 hours. Normally they don’t do it “all at once,” but the doctor was trying to help me pay as little as possible for actual hospital stay time.
This process was grueling and recovery was very intense/time consuming. I don’t recommend this surgery to just anyone. Any kind of surgery has risks. I encourage people to lose the weight first, then live with it for a couple of years. You never know how your body and your skin will react to the weight loss. A number of factors are involved -- including some very individual ones, based on the amount of time you were overweight, your health history and even your gene pool.
If you do find yourself concerned about excess skin (as I was), I suggest discussing options with *reputable* physicians and making your own decision. This is a very serious, very personal decision -- and one that needs to be made under a physician’s care (a doctor different from the surgeon, who can let you know if you’re healthy enough to undergo such a procedure). As with most of life’s major achievements, it’s a process: ONE STEP AT A TIME!
One interesting side note: I didn’t have to have any skin removed from my face or neck area. My doctor’s assistant told me this was likely because I was consuming health animal-based protein during my weight loss efforts (as outlined in Just Stop Eating So Much!) and that was nutritional and helpful for the skin while losing weight.
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