Suggestions on how to find a good plastic surgeon post WL?

[rs 1,473]

I'm one year post sleeve surgery and am ready to start looking into having some plastic surgery to clean up the horrible excess skin. Although I'm happy with the Dr who did my sleeve, I'm not really impressed with the plastic surgeon he has teamed up with in his office. Any suggestions on how to find a good plastic surgeon? I would think I want someone who has a lot of experience with bariatric patients, right?

[catwoman7 11,214]

yes - you want someone who has done a truckload of these things. Body contouring surgery on massive weight loss patients is a complicated subspecialty, so you want someone who does this all the time - preferably someone who specializes in this area - or barring that, at least someone who does A LOT of them (like maybe half their case load). Check realself.com for ideas. It's a site where people rate their doctors and discuss their experiences. It's all kinds of doctors, not just plastic surgeons -- although the majority of the reviews seem to be on plastic surgeons.

[Stella S 612]

Agree. Then make sure they are board certified, get several consults, pour over pictures in their gallery then hold on to the end goal.

[sillykitty 10,776]

On 9/20/2019 at 3:28 AM, catwoman7 said:

yes - you want someone who has done a truckload of these things. Body contouring surgery on massive weight loss patients is a complicated subspecialty, so you want someone who does this all the time - preferably someone who specializes in this area - or barring that, at least someone who does A LOT of them (like maybe half their case load). Check realself.com for ideas. It's a site where people rate their doctors and discuss their experiences. It's all kinds of doctors, not just plastic surgeons -- although the majority of the reviews seem to be on plastic surgeons.

Agree with all of this.

It was critical to me to find a surgeon who specializes in post WL patients. If you want a starting point, then check out my ps thread, or pm me.

I agree that RealSelf is a great resources. Just keep an eye out for fake reviews, I.e. posters w one post, no details, and generic praise. If you go through a major surgery like a lower body lift, you’d think you’d have more than 3 sentences to say about it, right?

Once I narrowed down my surgeon I STUDIED their galleries. There were respected surgeons I ruled out because I didn’t care for the aesthetics of their “afters”

Get as many consultations that you need to feel comfortable with your pick. I started with (respected) surgeons who didn’t charge a consultation fee. I happened to find my choice among these. But if I wasn’t satisfied with any of those surgeons I would have had as many consults as I needed to feel comfortable with my choice.