My Plastic Surgery Thread

[mousecat88 2,280]

4 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

I'm scared to ask where the graft came from...my PS and I have a strict "no who-ha" zone pact between us.

The graft was my own nipple. I had "super gigantomastia" and it required a full nipple graft in order to remove enough breast tissue and relocate the nipples to the proper place. They were at my belly button essentially. The vast majority of breast reduction do not require the severing of the nipple. They leave it attached and remove the breast tissue and then sew it back in place... they couldn't do that with mine because the "distance" was too far and the tissue to be removed was too much. So, they cut my nips off and put them on a little sponge while they do the rest of the job and then stitch them on in the proper place at the end. They removed about 8lbs of boob.

Edited August 29, 2019 by mousecat88

[Stella S 612]

So if an MD does not charge a consultation fee it is passed on to the people who actually have surgery That said every DC PS I consulted with did.nott charge. My totals over 3 procedures was just about 50 k. A bit less. Worth it!

[Darktowerdream 420]

@mousecat88 I had breast reduction surgery many years ago, I can’t even remember what year anymore. At the time I went to a clinic in NYC and for medical reasons my insurance paid, the doctor was awesome though and fought for me when the insurance was being problematic. I didn’t even know my actual bra size, the biggest I found in stores at the time was 34 DDD. Knowing what I know about bra sizes now I know It was much bigger than that. I can’t even guess. Similar to yours I was practically to my belly button. I asked to be as small as possible and I do not remember my bra size (average was maybe 34 C at the time) Right now I’m around a 30G or 30F in UK sizes. I kept some Freya Deco bras that I barely got to wear before my weight went up again and they are finally fitting again.

I suck at getting to the point. I was bullied in my early teens because my chest practically grew overnight and drastically. It was dense solid tissue and caused terrible problems. When I had surgery I was struggling with my weight. But i needed it. When I first lost weight I hated my extra skin. And now as I fight this all again I worry about the cost of surgeries like these. But I so badly want to be able to at least have a thigh lift. Although remembering how it was back then I wouldn’t mind a Tummy Tuck and breast lift also ... at the least.

My body shape also changed after hysterectomy and from degenerative disc disease and scoliosis. I’ve never had good body image. Maybe now they would call it body dysmorphia.

BariatricPal has a surgery center in Mexico. I think that’s the only way I could come close to “affording” it. But I live on a small disability check. It took a lot of scrimping and saving to afford my computer. And I just had to get help with the cost for renovating my bathroom. Which I couldn’t even use for several years. I know it’s too soon to think about it. But for once in my life I just want to feel comfortable in my skin, at least a little bit. And not feel like the bullied kid who hates how they look and won’t wear swimsuits let alone anything shorter than Bermuda shorts.

[Stella S 612]

Cost of complication. So my 3 surgeries were local and in DC. Self pay. My health insurance covered labs, prescriptions and pre-surgical insurances Final surgury was a thigh lift with a 50 to 75 percent complication rate. I ended up with a seroma infection and a wound separation.
Met my surgeon at the ER and there was no charge for his procedure but of course the ER was about 1250. I submitted to my health insurance as it does cover wounds but have not heard back.
Another 2 procedures were done to control seroma drainage with infection in office. No charge. Countless e-mails with photos. I ensured from jump that the PS would cover complications from first surgery with no additional service charge for something like 6 or 12 months. While healing. I get facilities like OR and ER charge. I had no problems with LBL BL or arm lift. For me I wanted to stay in the states have access to the doctor and yes a focus on body contouring When a doctor treats another doctors complications they assume a ton of liability and risk. The ER doctor I saw while I waited for PS was clueless as to the groin wound. Needed the tools and morphine of the ER. I hope this helps. I would choose the same doctor if I had it to do all o Er again. Same procedures

[sillykitty 10,774]

Had my first phone consult the other night. This surgeon also specializes in post bariatrics, and uses some different techniques, such as a flankplasty vs a LBL. He publishes about these techniques extensively as well.

I loved what he told me he could do to my body. He talked a lot about body contouring, narrowing my waist, creating a shelf booty, etc. Hr then sent me the quote, and it was on the lower end. I was excited.... Then I went back and took a good look at his photos. Everything he talked about did not show in his pics. He actually had a lot of outcomes that I wasn't impressed with at all.

I'm feeling a little like Goldilocks right now. I think there are several surgeon out there who can give me a flat stomach and improved thighs. But finding surgeons who excel at body contouring in addition to skin removal, are few and far between. I don't want to make this investment of money, time and pain, and then be unhappy with a boxy figure and flat butt

Here's where I'm at on consults

Dr. NB - The only surgeon so far I'm confident can give me the figure I want, but pricing was astronomical. Benefit of being local

Dr. B - Local, probably the front runner so far. He wasn't enthused about doing any butt contouring/fat augmentation. Need a revised quote, but more reasonable then the other local surgeon

Dr. P - Not at all impressed with his result pics, out of the running

Dr. N - Phone consult later this week. I'm very impressed by how lean and taunt his results are, but all results have a flat butt

Dr. B2 - Local consult next week. Need to look at photos more closely

Still need to look at and potentially schedule consults with a few of the other surgeons mentioned on this thread.

[sillykitty 10,774]

On 8/29/2019 at 5:59 AM, FluffyChix said:

Protect BF from the light. Don't call attention to the areas he doesn't notice need "help". Glad you're doing this!!! I bet the doc doesn't think you're pics look bad!!!

Actually the phone consult Doc was the most unintentionally brutal to date. "Oh, all that excess skin must be so uncomfortable." "Your skin just drapes and hangs there" "I can get rid of those bannan rolls over your hips" "Your butt has no shape left at all"

On 8/29/2019 at 11:29 AM, mousecat88 said:

This is why I am going with my local guy. I was referred to a "bariatric plastic surgeon" that is over two hours away. I am notorious for complications,

I'm hoping my luck holds. I have had no medical issues in my life, and my VSG recovery was extremely easy. Also, with local traffic, most (all?) qualified surgeons are over an hour away. It took me nearly 3 hrs to get home after my second consult, which was about 30 miles away.

On 8/29/2019 at 11:32 AM, mousecat88 said:

When I went in for my totally unnecessary Lipo, I just wanted my inner thighs done, but he took advantage of my low self-esteem and was pinching all these different areas and I left signed up for surgery on my inner/outer thighs, knees, stomach, hips, and arms. For those docs, it's all about the money.

I can definitely see how that can happen. None of my consults were pushy. But if I was less certain about what I want and what I don't want, it would be easy to get swayed by the possibilities. Honestly, I could use a complete overhaul. But I know that I want at most 1 major, and one minor surgery. I also don't want extensive scarring. Finally, I can't afford a whole body procedure, even if I wanted one. So even though I don't love my arms, or my knees, I can deal with those problem areas, because I'd rather fix my tummy, thighs, boobs and butt.

On 8/28/2019 at 9:56 AM, catwoman7 said:

I was a bit concerned about that - esp going out of the country - in case local MD's refused to treat complications (I'm guessing most will probably treat them, but with my luck...).

My first out of state consult addressed this concern without me even asking. He said he had local associates he trained, or he trained under, that would do follow ups and treat any complications.

[sillykitty 10,774]

On 8/31/2019 at 7:50 PM, Stella S said:

Cost of complication. So my 3 surgeries were local and in DC. Self pay. My health insurance covered labs, prescriptions and pre-surgical insurances Final surgury was a thigh lift with a 50 to 75 percent complication rate. I ended up with a seroma infection and a wound separation.
Met my surgeon at the ER and there was no charge for his procedure but of course the ER was about 1250. I submitted to my health insurance as it does cover wounds but have not heard back.
Another 2 procedures were done to control seroma drainage with infection in office. No charge. Countless e-mails with photos. I ensured from jump that the PS would cover complications from first surgery with no additional service charge for something like 6 or 12 months. While healing. I get facilities like OR and ER charge. I had no problems with LBL BL or arm lift. For me I wanted to stay in the states have access to the doctor and yes a focus on body contouring When a doctor treats another doctors complications they assume a ton of liability and risk. The ER doctor I saw while I waited for PS was clueless as to the groin wound. Needed the tools and morphine of the ER. I hope this helps. I would choose the same doctor if I had it to do all o Er again. Same procedures

Great insight, thank you!

Was your surgeon Dr. Michaels? (If you'r more comfortable pm-ing me, then please do)

[mousecat88 2,280]

On 8/31/2019 at 10:50 PM, Stella S said:

Cost of complication.

I called my insurance company and made them verify up their chain-of-command that if I had complications from plastics that they would be covered. They assured me they would because they'd be "medical" at that point.

Going in for my bra-line excision this Friday which is "minor" so... this could be a trial run of their accuracy. LOL.

[catwoman7 11,212]

3 hours ago, sillykitty said:

Actually the phone consult Doc was the most unintentionally brutal to date. "Oh, all that excess skin must be so uncomfortable." "Your skin just drapes and hangs there" "I can get rid of those bannan rolls over your hips" "Your butt has no shape left at all"

I'm hoping my luck holds. I have had no medical issues in my life, and my VSG recovery was extremely easy. Also, with local traffic, most (all?) qualified surgeons are over an hour away. It took me nearly 3 hrs to get home after my second consult, which was about 30 miles away.

I can definitely see how that can happen. None of my consults were pushy. But if I was less certain about what I want and what I don't want, it would be easy to get swayed by the possibilities. Honestly, I could use a complete overhaul. But I know that I want at most 1 major, and one minor surgery. I also don't want extensive scarring. Finally, I can't afford a whole body procedure, even if I wanted one. So even though I don't love my arms, or my knees, I can deal with those problem areas, because I'd rather fix my tummy, thighs, boobs and butt.

My first out of state consult addressed this concern without me even asking. He said he had local associates he trained, or he trained under, that would do follow ups and treat any complications.

I'm guessing you've looked at Dr. Katzen since you're on the west coast. He's very well-respected nationally in this subspecialty. I'm guessing he's probably pretty pricey, though

[sillykitty 10,774]

1 hour ago, mousecat88 said:

I called my insurance company and made them verify up their chain-of-command that if I had complications from plastics that they would be covered. They assured me they would because they'd be "medical" at that point.

Going in for my bra-line excision this Friday which is "minor" so... this could be a trial run of their accuracy. LOL.

Good to know!

I read some horror stories about complications insurance refused to cover. I'm thinking that is more common with an ***, or even more common with a closed *** like Kaiser, rather than a PPO.

[sillykitty 10,774]

6 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

Good to know!

I read some horror stories about complications insurance refused to cover. I'm thinking that is more common with an ***, or even more common with a closed *** like Kaiser, rather than a PPO.

So strange, BP thinks H M O is a curse word??

[ValerieInMexico 162]

Man, I just signed up for free consultation with Katzen, and two others at a Obesity Health conference in Aneheim Oct 4. There are few spaces left for free consults. I am looking forward to the conference. Help me with inspiration!

[sillykitty 10,774]

I think I decided on a surgeon!!

I had a phone consult last week with another out of state surgeon, calling him Dr. N. I instantly liked him, and he was the easiest to talk to out of all the surgeons.

His approach is a little bit different than others I had consulted with. My wish list was LBL with Lipo, fat transfer to butt & inner (crescent) thigh lift.

Well, he doesn't do inner (crescent) thigh lifts, because of the high complication rate, seriousness of complications and often unsatisfactory results. But he does believe I will have significant improvement to my inner thighs with the LBL alone. His gallery online does bear that out. His results are particularity lean and taunt.

He also doesn't do buttocks fat transfer, also due to risk factors, and low survival rate of transferred fat. So I will be left with a flatter butt that I would prefer.

Finally, he doesn't believe I will need lipo. He will remove the fat on my stomach with the LBL. He wouldn't recommend lipo-ing my thighs unless I was doing a medial thigh lift. Removing fat will exacerbate the sag. And overall he thinks I'm relatively lean, and my figure wouldn't benefit from lipo.

I got off the phone and took sometime to process, and scroll through the gallery again. Not having an inner thigh lift is a bit of a relief. The risks and complications are no joke scary. I also don't need perfect thighs, just greatly improved would be trade off. I was and am still disappointed knowing that my butt will be flattened out by the procedure. I realize though a lot of my butt volume currently is excess skin, which isn't attractive outside of Spanx, you know?

The benefit of going with a simpler operation is less expense and recovery time. Recovery time and pain is especially an issue, since I'll be going out of state, and will be alone.

So realizing this would only be a 3 hour operation, I reached back out and asked if a BA/BL could be done at the same time. Answer was YES! So I sent off pics and had a second phone consult. We talked extensively about the result I wanted, natural, tear drop & full. With that he said my breasts still had a good enough shape, and since my nipples point outwards, vs. down, I would most likely be satisfied with a BA only. I could skip the pain, recovery and scars of a BL.

So I am going to think on it over the weekend, but most likely I will go with a LBL & BA with Dr. N!

Here's where my thoughts are right now

Cons

Flattened butt without a fat transfer

Inner thigh improvement will be more subtle than with a lift

Breasts won't be as perky without a lift

Pros

Get my top 3 priorities, tummy, boobs, thighs resolved in 1 surgery

Easier recovery & less risk of complications, especially since I'll be far from home

Cost, this will be SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive than any other quote I received. (even the care facility is 1/3rd the cost per night!)

Right now I'm strongly leaning towards to pros outweighing the cons and booking it!

Here are pics from Dr. N's gallery, where the patient has the most similar thigh or breast type to mine.

Input appreciated!

[GreenTealael 25,335]

31 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

I think I decided on a surgeon!!

I had a phone consult last week with another out of state surgeon, calling him Dr. N. I instantly liked him, and he was the easiest to talk to out of all the surgeons.

His approach is a little bit different than others I had consulted with. My wish list was LBL with Lipo, fat transfer to butt & inner (crescent) thigh lift.

Well, he doesn't do inner (crescent) thigh lifts, because of the high complication rate, seriousness of complications and often unsatisfactory results. But he does believe I will have significant improvement to my inner thighs with the LBL alone. His gallery online does bear that out. His results are particularity lean and taunt.

He also doesn't do buttocks fat transfer, also due to risk factors, and low survival rate of transferred fat. So I will be left with a flatter butt that I would prefer.

Finally, he doesn't believe I will need Lipo. He will remove the fat on my stomach with the LBL. He wouldn't recommend lipo-ing my thighs unless I was doing a medial thigh lift. Removing fat will exacerbate the sag. And overall he thinks I'm relatively lean, and my figure wouldn't benefit from lipo.

I got off the phone and took sometime to process, and scroll through the gallery again. Not having an inner thigh lift is a bit of a relief. The risks and complications are no joke scary. I also don't need perfect thighs, just greatly improved would be trade off. I was and am still disappointed knowing that my butt will be flattened out by the procedure. I realize though a lot of my butt volume currently is excess skin, which isn't attractive outside of Spanx, you know?

The benefit of going with a simpler operation is less expense and recovery time. Recovery time and pain is especially an issue, since I'll be going out of state, and will be alone.

So realizing this would only be a 3 hour operation, I reached back out and asked if a BA/BL could be done at the same time. Answer was YES! So I sent off pics and had a second phone consult. We talked extensively about the result I wanted, natural, tear drop & full. With that he said my breasts still had a good enough shape, and since my nipples point outwards, vs. down, I would most likely be satisfied with a BA only. I could skip the pain, recovery and scars of a BL.

So I am going to think on it over the weekend, but most likely I will go with a LBL & BA with Dr. N!

Here's where my thoughts are right now

Cons

Flattened butt without a fat transfer

Inner thigh improvement will be more subtle than with a lift

Breasts won't be as perky without a lift

Pros

Get my top 3 priorities, tummy, boobs, thighs resolved in 1 surgery

Easier recovery & less risk of complications, especially since I'll be far from home

Cost, this will be SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive than any other quote I received. (even the care facility is 1/3rd the cost per night!)

Right now I'm strongly leaning towards to pros outweighing the cons and booking it!

Here are pics from Dr. N's gallery, where the patient has the most similar thigh or breast type to mine.

Input appreciated!

This seems idyllic ! He contoured the **** out of her midsection 🙌

[Deedee12 1,860]

I think I decided on a surgeon!!
I had a phone consult last week with another out of state surgeon, calling him Dr. N. I instantly liked him, and he was the easiest to talk to out of all the surgeons.
His approach is a little bit different than others I had consulted with. My wish list was LBL with Lipo, fat transfer to butt & inner (crescent) thigh lift.
Well, he doesn't do inner (crescent) thigh lifts, because of the high complication rate, seriousness of complications and often unsatisfactory results. But he does believe I will have significant improvement to my inner thighs with the LBL alone. His gallery online does bear that out. His results are particularity lean and taunt.
He also doesn't do buttocks fat transfer, also due to risk factors, and low survival rate of transferred fat. So I will be left with a flatter butt that I would prefer.
Finally, he doesn't believe I will need lipo. He will remove the fat on my stomach with the LBL. He wouldn't recommend lipo-ing my thighs unless I was doing a medial thigh lift. Removing fat will exacerbate the sag. And overall he thinks I'm relatively lean, and my figure wouldn't benefit from lipo.
I got off the phone and took sometime to process, and scroll through the gallery again. Not having an inner thigh lift is a bit of a relief. The risks and complications are no joke scary. I also don't need perfect thighs, just greatly improved would be trade off. I was and am still disappointed knowing that my butt will be flattened out by the procedure. I realize though a lot of my butt volume currently is excess skin, which isn't attractive outside of Spanx, you know?
The benefit of going with a simpler operation is less expense and recovery time. Recovery time and pain is especially an issue, since I'll be going out of state, and will be alone.
So realizing this would only be a 3 hour operation, I reached back out and asked if a BA/BL could be done at the same time. Answer was YES! So I sent off pics and had a second phone consult. We talked extensively about the result I wanted, natural, tear drop & full. With that he said my breasts still had a good enough shape, and since my nipples point outwards, vs. down, I would most likely be satisfied with a BA only. I could skip the pain, recovery and scars of a BL.
So I am going to think on it over the weekend, but most likely I will go with a LBL & BA with Dr. N!
Here's where my thoughts are right now
Cons
Flattened butt without a fat transfer
Inner thigh improvement will be more subtle than with a lift
Breasts won't be as perky without a lift
Pros
Get my top 3 priorities, tummy, boobs, thighs resolved in 1 surgery
Easier recovery & less risk of complications, especially since I'll be far from home
Cost, this will be SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive than any other quote I received. (even the care facility is 1/3rd the cost per night!)

Right now I'm strongly leaning towards to pros outweighing the cons and booking it!
Here are pics from Dr. N's gallery, where the patient has the most similar thigh or breast type to mine.


Input appreciated!

Pros DEFINITELY outweighs cons for sure!!!!!
The pictures are amazing!! Very natural, not overdone and anything that decreases complications is a GO for me!!
Good luck deciding!! It's a good place to be [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

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