Cazzy

Mike I am 2 and 1/2 years post op, i cannot actually see my scars from the lapband, i would describe them as just like a bad acne scar, its keyhole surgery and the scars on the outside even if they were bigger are nothing to the scarring going on inside your body because of how heavy you are. I started off at 400 lbs myself, i never thought i would do this, but i have, i only wish this operation had been around when i was your age, grab life with both hands and make it happen, life will pass you by if you dont ... good luck and i really hope this works out for you.

Feeling a little better now .. some pics of how much skin overall was removed in 11 months 3 Operations and a total of 28 hours surgery. My surgeon is extremely cautious and takes her time with all surgeries she has done for me. I had a total stay in hospital of 13 days . Only complication i experienced was allergies to the medical adhesives causing stitch abscesses when i had my thigh lift in October 2012. I also developed an encapsulated seroma in my thigh which was removed when i had my maxoplasty 8 days ago. I developed a haematoma in my left breast and ended up with an additional 2 hours in surgery and 4 pints of blood transfusion. My band is playing up due to the swelling from all the iv fluids but overall i am feeling much better and looking forward to no more surgery and no more scars good luck to all of you contemplating skin removal.

finding what worked for me and sticking to it, i weighed every day, did all my exercises everyday and ate similar food every day, sounds boring yes, but i had a lifetime of eating too much good food, i never ate junk food anyways, so a couple of years being rigid with myself paid off , now i am in maintenance i mix it up now and manage to keep my weight stable so it was all worth it

No need to be alarmed but to be honest u need to see your surgeon/doctor and i wouldnt leave it either, black could indicate something you ate of course , but could also indicate old blood etc, just make an appointment and get it checked out, you shouldnt be waking choking / coughing with mucus, especially if you havent had it before .. good luck ! I had that waking and choking over the weekend and had some removed from my band today as it was too tight, sometimes i could eat normally othertimes i would stick on everything, so get it checked

237 lbs since january 2011

I ended up having to have 1 mls removed from my band today, i am 2 weeks post op from my plastic surgery and i was getting tighter and tighter to the point where i could hardly even drink over the weekend. Please dont leave it like i did and have a small unfill before any surgery, took a chance and didnt this time and have had a miserable time last week getting tighter and tighter. I now am able to eat and drink normally and feel so much better for it. Being tight can impact on your healing process if u get dehydrated etc so its really not worth taking the chance

I always get stuck if i even attempt to drink while i am eating, drinking with food i believe is a habit you have learned and can therefore unlearn it, i certainly think its a cultural thing too, in the UK its just not a done thing really except when its wine etc. just follow your own doctors rules and rely on his expertise and not all us amateurs on the forum

thank you all for your nice comments .. hopefully u can all be as pleased as i was wioth the results I am actually thinking of going swimming now ...

My port is on my breast bone so my abdominoplasty never touched it so sorry cant be much help. Did u have to have your port moved ?

i was thinking of you when i posted those pics, i actually have ones that the surgeon took that are even worse than my ones, I am too ashamed to post those, i still hate photos, i dont suppose that will ever change.. let me know if u want to see them and i will email them if u pm your email..

You too missy, i know u havent been well either so i wish you well too, hopefully we can encourage others to get unfills before surgery and not go through similar problems to what you and i are having..

Last saturday turned into a little bit of a nightmare for me, the main surgery took 8 hours and wow she did a grand job considering how much saggy skin i had on my boobies but 2 hours later and 3 cups of tea, i had to go back into surgery at midnight for correction of a haematoma that was forming in my left breast, this took a further 2 hours, so i had a lot more surgery than i was anticipating, i had to have 4 transfusions the next day and drains came out yesterday and i came home today, but everything is sore and swollen, with so much surgery time now i am carrying a lot of fluid. I have a compression bra on for my breasts and compression legs on for my knees. I obviously wasnt anticipating so many problems but it does happen, it was scarey at the time but i knew this was a complication that could occur . I am home now and my band is playing up big time, i am sticking on most solid food due to being swollen but am able to drink without problem so am concentrating on liquids and mushy foods to get the nutrients in me to help with healing. I will see if i can post a few pics soon. Normally a breast lift isnt as extensive as my one but dont get compliant that this skin removal is an easy option as it isnt. I was lucky i had really good recovery from abdominoplasty and brachioplasty, but it may take a little longer than u think to get back to full strength if u develop a few problems like i did. The main thing is, that i am home after 4 night hospital stay and know i am starting the road to recovery . Good luck to all of you who are having surgery soon, be realistic and always keep your before and after pictures close to you to know where u have come from, its so easy to get over critical of this sort of surgery and forget where u started from will keep u all updated on the progress ...

Firstly thank you all for your kind words they are much appreciated. Secondly a word of caution ... This is hard for me to admit, but i was soo wrong not to go and have some Fluid removed from my band before the operation, i honestly thought oh my band is a little loose and so i dont need more fluid removed and being an 'old hand' at this plastic surgery skin removal i thought i was making the right decision, but i did not. If i had had no complications from the surgery i would probably have got away with my band having the fluid levels it did have, but who could predict a complication of a heamatoma resulting in emergency surgery, more iv fluids more transfusions and more swelling than u can ever imagine. This has impacted on my lap band big time whereby i am able to drink fluids, but solid food is just a no no at the minute, and that of course impacts on your healing process. So not only do i have to recover from the surgery but i now have to watch what i eat and drink so much it is making me miserable, i am hungry but know i will stick, i am concentrating on milky drinks and smoothie type food for now, as my port is on my breast bone and that area is post operatively swollen, to get an unfill now would not be an easy proceeedure if it was possible at all. So the moral of this story is, cater for the unexpected and emergency situations even if they dont arise, caution should be the overriding factor not the lack of it which is my tale. ... Today is a better day having been home for 24 hours now and i am able to cater to my band as best i can so please listen and learn for those contemplating surgery and take heed of my story which should still have a happy ending, but a lot of misererable times in between because i thought i knew best !!

My blood pressure was very low 80/40 along with my hb levels so another transfusion today drains should be out tomorrow .tuesday. I had a feeling that my last surgery would be the worst, oh well it happens. Am in full compression garments so everything should settle down soon... What an adventure this has all been !!!!

Well I made it through my surgery it was 8 hours but what a fantastic job my surgeon has done, unfortunately I developed a haematoma and had to rushed back into surgery for another 2 hours , bleed is fixed now and just in hospital recovering . Had transfusions today because of loss of blood, but overall am doing well.These things happen I hope your surgery went well ! I am due home in the next few days yay lol

Well having had my abdominoplasgty and brachyplasty in May 2012 am feeling fully recovered and am now going for my thigh lift. My sugeon is going on maternity leave in december so it was either having to wait till next year and another summer interupted by surgery or to get it done asap. My surgery date is the 18th October 2012.. Just to give you an idea of what my poor surgeon has to deal with i am showing 2 pics one pre-op with my very loose skin on my thighs and one of my thighs in my marena compression leggings. I love these compression legs and although expensive are so worth while, the difference it made to me not having this baggy skin showing on my legs with normal leggings made all the difference in the world to me. Most of you wont get skin as bad as mine as i had to lose a lot of weight and doing the amount of cycling i do my legs are just muscle and skin now, my age was against me and so was being female but i am hoping this surgery will make the difference i need to feel able to wear my cycling shorts or even a bathing suit !

Thanks so much for your thoughts, this is the last one for me yayyyyyy i found the full body lift pretty easy to be honest, inner thighs werent so easy will let u know how i am doing

Well tomorrow March 23rd is my breast lift surgery day, i am hoping it all goes ok and i get rid of my saggy girls forever. I am a 3nights planned hospital stay, so will post when i am able to ... Good luck to all those others who are having surgery soon.

My skin weighed 9 lbs on my tummy tuck, 3 lbs on my arm lift and 5 lbs on my inner thigh lift, my breast lift is tomorrow, i will be interested to see how muck that skin weighs

I have exaxtly the same problem with back fat, i have had all the plastic surgery my breast lift is tomorrow 23rd March and that is me finished but i will be consulting a personal trainer about this back problem, it might be that the fat can be worked on, i would maybe try that first before the liposuction route. My surgeon has warned me tho, that having had so much surgery, we can get a little obsessed over minor imperfections, so in the grande scheme of things actually how bad is it, or is it just when u wear low cut dresses.. Sometimes our perceptions of ourselves get a little skewed after so much weight loss and surgery so i would get more opinions than just our own one

I have my breast lift tomorrow Saturday 23rd March, i have had all the other surgies and believe me they were not as bad as you imagine them to be. I am 58 yrs old and had masses of skin to be cut away as i had lost over 237lbs, but it looks and feels fantastic, this is one thing you will not regret. It is easy to look back after surgery with rose tinted specs on, take lots of before photos and then keep looking back at them, all this body changing skews our perceptions a little so keep the before and after pics close at hand. Cosmetic surgery has an emotional rollercoaster too so be prepared for a few tearful days but on the whole be be prepared for a new lease of life .. good luck for your surgery.. let us know how you are doing. I will be so glad to get rid of my sagging breats too, i dont need the augmentation just the darn things lited and skin removed The good thing about long surgeries is that we dont know they are long, only the relatives waiting for us do my first surgery was 11 hours long, my second was 7 hours, this is a planned 4 hour, you will be fine

We dont use cups in the UK to measure our food, it was more sticking to calories (1000 to 1200 daily) and just 'small meals' but if i was to measure in cups i would eat maybe 3 oz protien plus a cup of green veg, and that is always after a tin of WW tomatoe soup to help fill me up first, works a treat and continues to work for me, i dont eat root veg much at all so the green veg is a filler with very little calories but plenty of nutrients.

I lost over 230 lbs and being 58 yrs old I had more skin than I care to remember, I had a full abdominoplasty 360 degrees , arms done, inner thighs lifted, now I am about to go into hospital for my final surgery of a breast lift. So far I have 18 hours of surgery with a possible 5 hours this next one, as I have some small revisions to do from previous operations too. If someone had said to me 3 yrs ago would u ever have plastic Surgery I would have said no but I see this as just surgery, it's not for cosmetic reasons, I feel it's all a medical need, my life is impacted by saggy skin and therefore I want it gone. Saggy skin is more or less inevitable with this much weight loss. What would I do if I couldn't get it removed.. Wear it like a badge of honour and be proud that u no longer fill it !