Choosing what to do first?

[monalyssa33 138]

How did you decide what to have done first? I'm nearing my goal weight and at this point, it looks like I'll need an arm lift, boob lift, Tummy Tuck, and maybe something for my thighs. My priority is likely being the tummy tuck and boob lift.

[whitmac 45]

Following

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[Rainbow_Warrior 996]

46 minutes ago, monalyssa33 said:

How did you decided what to have done first?

When I have lost weight before (but never reached goal) in all those years of yo-yo-ing, I always noticed after losing 40-50kg (95-110 pounds) that I would have loose pouches of flabby skin between my inner thighs.

As walking a lot more is what I want, I presume these will be my #1 target for change.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Rainbow_Warrior

[Berry78 4,261]

I've been thinking about this too.

Personally I would cut off anything that is creating sores or mobility issues first.

Then anything that is causing problems with my wardrobe. (For example, if I had to constantly look for certain types of clothes to accomodate _______).

After that, it's just whatever I tend to be mentally bothered by.

Other considerations are price and recovery timing.

[jess9395 5,449]

How did you decide what to have done first? I'm nearing my goal weight and at this point, it looks like I'll need an arm lift, boob lift, Tummy Tuck, and maybe something for my thighs. My priority is likely being the tummy tuck and boob lift.

My list was the same as yours with the thighs being a "maybe."

I met with five plastic surgeons and sent pix to one in Mexico.

Several told me they could do two stages--upper and lower body. The Mexico surgeon would do it all at once. I fell in love with my surgeon. Part of it was that he said with as little body fat as I had (i.e. No Lipo needed to contour) he could do my top three at once because not as much blood loss and he could keep the surgery under his max hours. He also said that thighs were usually the surgery with the least satisfaction of the four I had in mind and his goal would be to do such a good job on the three he did that I would no longer care about the thighs.

That was over two years ago and he succeeded!

[Cateyez001 28]

My list was the same as yours with the thighs being a "maybe."

I met with five plastic surgeons and sent pix to one in Mexico.

Several told me they could do two stages--upper and lower body. The Mexico surgeon would do it all at once. I fell in love with my surgeon. Part of it was that he said with as little body fat as I had (i.e. No Lipo needed to contour) he could do my top three at once because not as much blood loss and he could keep the surgery under his max hours. He also said that thighs were usually the surgery with the least satisfaction of the four I had in mind and his goal would be to do such a good job on the three he did that I would no longer care about the thighs.

That was over two years ago and he succeeded!

Who was your surgeon?

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[Scamp 207]

I am totally different - My first choice was arms - Because I figured if it went wrong I could cover it and hide it best. lol - The arms were something that totally broke my heart in a photo a year before hand so that is what prompted me to really want to get them done.

At the last minute I added in boobs - As I thought having better arms would mean the boobs would be out of place - And he could do both in same op.

After that I just put them in order of how much I could cope if I did not do them - I think my choices were all the way they were due to how much I felt emotionally battered by not having these things sorted out. After the first op - I saw that the surgeon I chose as a supersurgeon - Which prompted me to have more faith in a good result and I am very very happy now - 5 years+ later and I am still amazed that this IS really ME!

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

Since I'm pre-op, who knows what it's all going to look like - but in my mind I am going for boobs and lower body lift/tummy tuck. And then see how that goes, doubt I'll do thighs, arms maybe.

I really like Dr Peter Fisher from San Antonio, so far - he does some sculpting that I like - he specializes in wls patients. Go look at his website.

[sgc 538]

I went for the waist and mid section first. Now I can find nice fitting clothes that show off my new slender shape. I could never find pants that fit and would always be pulling them up. As a guy I chose not to do a breast lift or implants as I thought that wouldn't be a good look. Next would definitely be arms. I'm down to wearing long sleeve or 3/4 sleeve shirts to hide the arm skin. With the thighs I can wear shorts that cover much of it.

[jess9395 5,449]

Who was your surgeon?

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I will PM you. My pics are on his website and I'm not hugely private but.... well you know!

[jkppt 76]

I was bothered most by my thighs but my belly was a close second. Had a vertical thigh lift, Tummy Tuck and lower body lift in August and very pleased with the results. I think what ever is most stressing to you is where you should start.

[ssflbelle 829]

Try to get the worse most difficult area taken care of first.

In my case, because of my physical limitations with 4 herniated bulging disc my PS and I discussed the order which might offer the greatest relief to the pain issue. We decided breast first, tummy second, arms third and lower half last

Breasts were done on June 26th. At my highest I was a 70 I at surgery I was a 48 DDD and today I am 44 B. Since June I have been using a rollator more than the scooter. I still need the scooter for shopping and work but am now able to walk for at least 20 minutes. Before breast surgery I could barely walk for 4-5 minutes before terrible pain set in.

Late Sept I went back for the next consultation. The PS decided to change the order as my tummy is going to be a very big job. I also have a hernia and he wants me to be closer to my goal weight. So we are trying to get insurance approval for my arms. I have lost a total of 290 pounds. After the breast surgery there is still so much excess skin in all the other areas that it doesn't matter to me the order, just so long as it keeps coming off.

[Djmohr 6,965]

I waited until I reached goal and was nearly 6 months on maintenance. Then I decided to go with my arms first because they bothered me the most.

The result was incredible!!! I had always had what we lovingly called grandma arms.

Then of course, my tummy and breasts really bothered me now that my arms were awesome. So I had a full abdominalplasty, breast lift and augmentation in January 2017. Again, the results are incredible. Completely flat tummy and awesome breasts!!!

Then my I swear it looked like my face melted off and really bothered me so in July for my birthday I had a full deep plane face lift, Endoscopic eyebrow lift, Lower Bleph and fat transfers. My face lift took what looks like 20 years off my face!!! Most of the swelling was gone in 3 weeks and my body is still absorbing sutures and changing a little in a positive way. I still have slight bruises under my eyes but so slight, only me, hubby and surgeon even know they are there. I was presentable in 3 weeks post op.

In between all that I had to have both my shoulders repaired (Rotator cuff and AC joint). Having that much going on in a 1.5 year span has actually caused me to be less active than I would like and about 6 months ago, I began to gain some weight. The dreaded 15%....it is very frustrating and although I am working on it. For me that is nearly 20lbs.....I still look fantastic but that weight gain is freaking me out and the worst is....it is not so easy to lose it as it once was.

If I can drop 15lbs.....I do plan to have 2 more procedures. My butt is completely flat and looks like a sharpe dog, and my thighs need a lot of work, especially where everything droops around my knees. My surgeon is suggesting finishing my abdominalplasty on the back side which ultimately will result in a lower body lift, she would then get the fat from my legs and use it to lift my butt as a part of that first surgery. Then 6 months later I would have a thigh lift as my last procedure.

I have not decided for sure if I want to go through more and I certainly wont do anything until I drop at least 15lbs, would like to drop 20. Of course the cost of doing all this work has been very expensive but worth every penny. I chose a surgical team that I had complete faith in and they have not disappointed me at all. The pain from plastics is pretty extreme and I am someone who has a very high pain tolerance and dont like to take pain meds. My plastic surgeon tells me I am the opposite of most....my arm lift was the most painful of all. I guess the abdominalplasty is supposed to be the most painful. I had my breasts done at the same time and I honestly think they were more painful than the Tummy Tuck. LOL...

My face was not painful at all. I think I took pain meds for 3 days total. That is more about ice packs.....

My TT and BL/A took the longest at nearly 10 total hours and I stayed in the hospital. My arm lift took over 6 hours and my facelift took 9 hours and was completed in a hospital not in the doctors office. Because I had such an extensive neck lift and an endoscopic brow lift, he knew I would get a better result if he used a general anesthetic. I was happy because there was no way I could last that long laying on a table while awake.

Anyway.....plastics has been awesome to me. I learned that the most important thing is finding a surgeon that you trust, and not to shop for price. You get what you pay for and what people fail to realize is that after care is critical. If you do any of this work, you are looking at hundreds/thousands of sutures in your body.....there will always be something that comes up that your surgical team will need to follow up on. Especially with weight loss surgery patients.

[jkppt 76]

I chose vertical thigh lift, abdominal plastic and lower body lift first. Then arms and breast.