My 600 lb Life / Skin Tight

I think the show has gotten better with subsequent seasons.  

I found the skin tight show interesting, but I was definitely concerned about that woman's mental health. She seemed truly distraught about her loose skin. When I had my psych evals pre-op I told the social worker that I would wear my loose skin like a badge of honor. Now I feel like I use humor to deal with it. I refer to my stomach as pancake batter and my backside as butt rolls. After watching some YouTube videos and the show last night I'm more worried about the pain of plastic surgery than the loose skin :)

Meg~

I totally agree about being concerned about her mental status. I got freaked out a little by how irrational she seemed.

The whole episode I was saying to my husband that she needs major therapy, and having the skin removed is likely not going to fix her issues. What a lot of people don't realize is that if you blame your unhappiness on your excess weight, then you're going to do the exact same thing and blame your excess skin for your unhappiness... and then the scars after that.  It's reality tv though, so you'll never know if TLC edited her to seem more emotional or if she was simply uncomfortable on camera and came off that way.

I'm going to have huge amounts of loose skin when I'm done losing (5'2, hw 449), and I'm ok with that.  My husband and I always talk/joke about what it will be like and how I'm going to have to stuff it into my clothes.  I'll probably get a panni because my insurance will cover it, but I've never been one to wear a bikini, short-shorts, or sleeveless shirts so I'm totally okay with the rest :)

~Phoenix

Totally agree - plastics was the right step for her, but some conseling might have helped also.

I totally related to the girl on Skin Tight. The part where she was swimming in the pool reminded me of me last summer. My skin had a life of its own and looked very interesting in the pool. I swim everyday in the summer, so I am acutely aware of it....

She did seem very distraught, but in some ways I figured that is what the producers were probably looking for....

I have always watched My 600 Pound Life.  Last night I additionally watched Skin Tight.  I found it to be quite emotional.  After seeing what these 2 patients went through I pretty well convinced that I will be wearing my excess skin to my grave.  By the time I would be ready for plastics (2-3 years) I will be too old to go through that much pain, etc...I'm 65 yrs old now.

I watch it mostly because it reminds me of the direction I was heading b4 wls. I did notice when they did a kind of memorable wl patients, they did a where are they now kind of thing & Dr Now difficult patient Penny still hasn't changed her ways. It's just a reminder that you can have surgery & still not lose the weight unless you change your eating habits.

I noticed they're now briefly touching on the mental aspects of wls. Who doesn't go thru some kind of mind *** after this.

Skin tight did kinda weirded me out only cuz its so weird looking at someone who had the same kind of stomach I have to a certain extent. I sure as hell don't keep pulling on it, not it'd do anything other than weird me out some. That lady had a whole lot of plastic surgery in 1 shot! I'm not sure I could handle that all at once, & the reattaching the nipple thing, yikes!

i loved the episode! i made the mistake of not getting my excess skin cut off after a 227 lb wgt loss from a rouxny, and i've often though that if i'd known that was part o the maintenance in the program and pursued it if i wld have realized and appreciated my accomplishments more. perhaps i wouldnt have gained back the wgt and need to go through this revision on 1-20-16.

Hey Mo!  Long time no see - I hope you are doing well :)  I miss you around here!

I am glad you started this discussion - I thought about it but hadn't gotten around to it.  I happened to watch both episodes too.  I liked the girl on My 600 Lb life - she seemed to take responsibility for her obesity and want to lose weight, unlike some of them on last season who were SO painful to watch because they didn't eat on plan or seem to take it seriously.  I cannot imagine the pain of being over 600 lbs - I give a lot of credit to these folks who go through this AND show it on tv.  I would have NEVER shown my naked body getting in and out of the shower to the entire world and I was half that size.

I didn't like Skin Tight much, and I was fascinated to see it since I have had a lower body lift, breast lift, and arm lift.  In a way, I am glad it openly sheds light on the excess skin from such weight loss, but I couldn't relate to either person's distress OR their surgery experiences (both the procedures and the recovery) which were SO different from my experience.  I mean they were both so distraught about their bodies and unhappy with themselves...I wasn't depressed about my excess skin and it didn't keep me from going to a beach, I just wore a one-piece, ya know?  Naked I looked like a sharpei dog but I wasn't self-conscious about walking around in clothes.  I also only had drains for a week after my LBL/BL and not at all for my arms, whereas they seemed to have them for like a month?!  I also wasn't bedridden and in excrutiating pain other than my first night at home after my LBL, so I feel like the show could be a little mis-leading and if I hadn't had plastics already, I would be terrified, when in reality it wasn't that bad.  And finally, I feel like their results months later were good but not incredible.  I think they went to plastic surgeons, not plastic surgeons who have trained and done their residency specifically for body contouring after massive weight loss.  Overall, if someone is coming up to plastics, I think this show would freak them out, where my experience (and it's only mine, not anyone else's) was much easier and yielded a shorter and easier recovery and tighter results.