Loose Skin---Is this a myth or not?

I ran across this website online, and I wonder what you think about this? I wonder about this every day since skin is a living organ....can't my skin snap back over time? Check out this website below and let me know if you think there might be some truth to this. It would be nice to hear from some of our graduates that are about a year further out than we are----is there anyone out there that elected NOT to go with plastics? Did there skin shape back up enough that they are pleased enough with the results? What do you Juners think? http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm I am still thinking about plastics, but I don't want the scars. Plus $10,000 is so much money. What if I could solve this issue with a little bit of time and extra work? Does anyone else feel the same way? I have mixed emotions. Let me know your thoughts after you read this article online. Thanks--- Diana

Just taking one look at that sight told me it is full of bunk. In my opinion. I have been told that your skin will never tighten up. You can make it look better with excersize because you add muscle to the area, but I personally would have to have 25 inch arms to make them fill in LOL! I think it is another wishful thinking idea to sell his book. If you don't have too much skin, you might pull off the excersize thing. Alot of people don't have too much problem with less of a loss than I have had and the younger you are the better too. I also know that certain vitamins and lots of water are suppossed to help with the skin elastins. Check with your doctor. But I don't know about that particular website, it seemed like a salespitch to me. Wendy

I've just lost too much weight and I'm just about to hit 40. I'm thinking surgery is my only option. I wish the skin would go back. I'm terrified to see what I'll look like if I actually lose all my extra weight. My poor boobs!!! Dawn

This question i think is going to very from person to person so much. I think the amount of weight you lost, the times you have lost it, the amount of years you carried it, age and a persons natural skin conditions is going to all be a variable. What might be true for one, another may laugh at. I have been told by doctors (not plastic surgeons) that our muscles and our skin have a memory. And the longer it has had to hold a certain shape the harder it is for it to change shapes. THe thing about working out is it will tone up the muscles and work on the muscles... but in many cases this just helps us to lose more inches and the skin looks even more eggagerated and loser on the body. Skin is a living organ but because of the elascticity involved and that it does not receive as much blood flow as the other organs it is not as pliable. The blood saturation of the internal organs helps them to change and reshape easier. Skin is sadly not in the same catagory as our other organs. But that is of course just in my opinion from my research. Over time it will continue to shrink... but with the stretch marks that will more that likely be there it will not be the same no matter how long. Let us look at a baloon once it is blown up. One it is deflated you can still see the strecth mark lines on the baloon and that is what keeps it bigger. Our stretch marks are in essense tiny tiny scars.. and that tissue is tougher and a complelty different texture. Every where there is even a harline stretch mark it is still a bit larger... now one stretch mark wont make us bigger.. but i have many many more than that. LOL

Although there are some who lose 100lbs or less that feel like the skin is not an issue it is just a fact that skins cells do not have the same memory and there for only surgical intervention with get rid of excess. Monica

This guy is full of it. Yes skin is a living organ that will heal, but we do not have the ability to regenerate damaged tissue (unless you are a starfish). I do not know about you, but I still have scars from when I was a small child. After 40 years, I am going to go out on a limb and predict that I will always have these scars. Telling someone with severly damaged skin that they can exercise their way back to normal is irresponsible. I would equate this to telling a burn victim that they can exercise their scares away. The ability of skin to recover is directly related to how badly damaged the skin is. The amount of damage that has occured is variable from person to person based on all the reasons previously stated by the other posters (age, genetics, weight gain/loss, etc.). Healthy skin can recover, damaged skin will always be damaged to some degree.

Hi Diana My arms, stomach, and back hung before my WLS, so there was no way in heck it would come back with out PS. Some people are giving me flack about the amount of money I'm going to spend - especially since I'm poor, have no college fund for my son, and my car is pretty old. But, I systematically turned my body, on the outside, to how I felt on the inside and feel that I have the right to reverse it. So, PS here I come - $35K and all!! Sharyn