EXCESS SKIN questions!

[DietPepsi59 0]

I have lost 99 pounds and definitely have deflated breasts and some excess skin. I found a body smoother by Leggs that is almost like panty hose without the hose and I wear in under most everything except jeans. I have gone from a 22/24 to a 6 or 8. If I didn't have the skin, probably a 4. I will probably never have any surgery, I won't be able to afford it and there isn't enough to ever cause infections or anything like that. At almost 48, I will just live with it.

[Jachut 487]

Its so deceptive in before/afters too isnt it? I mean Tricia, you look seriously GREAT in that photo - and I know in clothes and in photos I look perfectly normal too. I'm lucky not to have a pannis, I didnt get morbidly obese and I also escaped 3 pregnancies without a stretchmark - obviously mother nature was just kind to me. But my thighs and butt, I need a buttock lift - in fact despite the fact that my stomach is flat, its very doughy, there *is* loose skin there, just not what some experience - and the state of my thighs and butt is exactly what it was in my teens, not excess skin, just a big figure problem - I could use that belt lipectomy that Puddin had, truly. I may not be dripping with excess skin, but I have a smaller version of the same problem.

My thighs didnt get worse with gaining weight and they didnt get better with losing it. My mum is the same. So is one of my sisters. Its genetics. If we're after a really good result, PS is really going to be a part of it for nearly everyone. Whether or not we all choose to do it is another matter, I'm not sure that at 40, I want to. Looking good dressed is pretty OK to me, but if I come by a bit of money, I'd be in in a shot!

[TheGh0st 9]

KLM - I hope you don't think I was saying that younger people with the band won't need PS. Just that there is a chance that some people might (emphasis, might) shrink back a little better than others depending on factors such as age, strechmarks, skin type, etc. But Skin is its own organ and once it grows to cover our larger bodies there is not a whole lot that can be done. I absolutely hate it when My MIL and well meaning friends keep asking if I am lifting weights to get rid of the extra skin. Correct me if I'm wrong but how is toning the muscle organ going to help the skin organ change its overal size one iota?

[ras141414 0]

I AM 54, only lost 60 pds but I cant stand the look on my arms when I have short lleeved blouses on. Later on this year I am going to have surgery on my arms. ITS DRIVING ME NUTS. I was self pay and did pay for a slipped band months ago

GOOD LUCK TO YOU

[late 0]

I told my husband that i am a "flying muffin". I've got the muffin top rolling over the waist band and the bat wings ready to take flight! Pretty pictue, huh!

[TheGh0st 9]

I know what you mean!

Here's my pretty picture.... Having the habit of lifting up my "apron" everytime I go upstairs in loose fitting clothes. D@#~! I can't wait to be rid of that! Just 39 days and I'm counting every minute of them.

[amillerjones 0]

When do you think you should get the Tummy Tuck? Like how much longer after surgery? I am wondering if I should wait until I am done losing or at a plateu, because I am still losing weight although I am rather happy with my weight right now but it still keeps coming off without me even trying. Also, I heard that removing the excess skin is the most painful of the surgeries. Can somebody tell me more? Any regrets?

[TracyinKS 7]

Just this morning I grabbed my stomach and noticed that its getting deflated and floppy......... and the "dent" is back......

The last time I lost a bunch of weight (80lbs).. I had this weird dent in my tummy......

It’s like if you look down at your naked belly and you see a DENT in the part that is sticking out the worst…… kind of like the doc went in and scooped out Half of the fat and left the other half in there…… (hard to explain, but weird!) I remember when I quit seeing the bump as I was gaining……… and now its back… probably fat cells that are getting inflated and deflated….

I am watching Dianes progress like a hawk.. and I am going to try the arm thing............ flap flap

[Wheetsin 714]

I'm sooo gonna need PS. I'm so freaking deformed.

I have 4 boobs. Two that I was born with, and two that have formed as my side fat has gone away. The new boobs (or "noobs") have formed straight down from my armpits.

From my boobs down to about 3" above my bellybutton I look ok, aside from the fact that it looks like a toddler used their new Crayola marker in the fabulous fall color "Stretchmark" to create a schematic of NY's subway system. And the fact that I'm saggy, and have random sad faces, and sometimes a mad face, popping up over the emotional canvas that is my mid-section.

Below that, my bellybutton has disappeared. I'm not kidding. It has been sucked backward into the black hole of my abdomen, creating a sort of bottomless lint trap.

If you were looking at my belly head on, my "Artist Formerly Known as Bellybutton" looks kind of like a cross between a big frowny face and a melting sharpei. I can literally take something long like a medical Q-Tip (think of the big huge ones the swab your pootie with during a gyno visit), insert it into said bellybutton, push it in until my fingertips are against my skin, and not reach the bottom.

Stemming downward from my cavernous bellybutton, almost like a line of drool, is a crease. This goes all the way down my bottom stomach. (I have a top stomach, and a bottom stomach, like a big fat "B"). The skin around the line is very saggy, but also poochy. I've never seen one, but I would image this is what an 80 year old butt crack would look like.

My thighs also look like a couple of socks full of quarters.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I'm sooo gonna need PS. I'm so freaking deformed.

I have 4 boobs. Two that I was born with, and two that have formed as my side fat has gone away. The new boobs (or "noobs") have formed straight down from my armpits.

From my boobs down to about 3" above my bellybutton I look ok, aside from the fact that it looks like a toddler used their new Crayola marker in the fabulous fall color "Stretchmark" to create a schematic of NY's subway system. And the fact that I'm saggy, and have random sad faces, and sometimes a mad face, popping up over the emotional canvas that is my mid-section.

Below that, my bellybutton has disappeared. I'm not kidding. It has been sucked backward into the black hole of my abdomen, creating a sort of bottomless lint trap.

If you were looking at my belly head on, my "Artist Formerly Known as Bellybutton" looks kind of like a cross between a big frowny face and a melting sharpei. I can literally take something long like a medical Q-Tip (think of the big huge ones the swab your pootie with during a gyno visit), insert it into said bellybutton, push it in until my fingertips are against my skin, and not reach the bottom.

Stemming downward from my cavernous bellybutton, almost like a line of drool, is a crease. This goes all the way down my bottom stomach. (I have a top stomach, and a bottom stomach, like a big fat "B"). The skin around the line is very saggy, but also poochy. I've never seen one, but I would image this is what an 80 year old butt crack would look like.

My thighs also look like a couple of socks full of quarters.

OMG I haven't laughed that hard in ages!

Ohhh Wheetsin, I needed that laugh today. I'm going to keep this photo and keep looking at it ALL freak'en day!

That was too damn funny!

[Wheetsin 714]

I think one issue is to put it all in perspective. You already have excess skin, it's just filled up right now. It's better to have empty excess skin vs. full excess skin.

I'm with Julie's Dad on this one. There is no way to avoid it. There are certain factors that make a bit of a difference but overall, it's just going to be a reality.

*nodnod* Another myth - working out will make your skin shrink. This is just another facet of the above. Your skin doesn't shrink because you're exercising, you're just adding muscle bulk behind the skin, which fills it out more.

Very very very very very very very few people have great, naturally elastic skin. BUT, unless they're like... 6, or were only obese for a handful of months, or just REALLY lucky, they're gonna look like the rest of us. Balloons are really stretchy, but if you blow one way up, and leave it like that for 5 years, and then defalte it, it's not going to look like a skinny little balloon anymore.

Unfortunately there is no OTC pill, cream, ointment, injection, etc. that will force skin that has lost its shape & elasticity to go back to the way it "should be."

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

That is a great picture, Wheests! You are so hilarious!

[TheGh0st 9]

Love that image Wheets!

(Remember the pics you posted of your knees? :pound:)

I think I like yours better than the one I've been using for some of my non-banded friends too squimish to look at the live shots.

BTW - Why is it the band docs seem to place most port scars right in the one patch of stretch free skin? Couldn't he have moved it a few inches lower so that it my PS could have placed my new belly button over it?

TracyinKS - I know what you mean about the "dent" I've got it too. Almost wonder if it is from years of lifting my stomach there while in the john. Or more possibly from the tissue being disturbed during my C-Section 4 years ago.

single line drawing.bmp

[Jeni 85 0]

OMG..... I love the drawings ladies!!!!

You had me laughing so hard... Im not at that point in my band journey yet but am already noticing the sad belly button and my inner thighs icky!!

But before i even had the surgery my surgeon explaind to me that because i had been overweight for so long that he is almost 100% sure that i will need the PS when i reach goal.. Im glad he did that because now im not some crazy person wondering how i can miraculously prevent it from happening..

[NanaRenan 0]

oh my goodness....I hadn't seen this thread until now.

Thanks for the laughs, ladies!!!

Here's one for the Sad But True category -- I can't call it a NSV, how about a NSA(Non-scales Actuality)?? One way I can tell that I'm losing is my considerable APRON is getting longer and thinner. It's hard to get excited about weight loss when it comes with such uncomely results.