Loose skin?

 As I am a few pounds off my "official" goal weight I have a bit of loose skin going on... Neck, inner thighs, love handles, belly. Does this skin shrink at all or are we stuck with the "droopy socks" look? I am not after another surgery, not that vain and am never going to be a beach lizard, but hope the skin sucks in a little! I hope to go past goal by 10 or 20 which will make the situation worse too... Experience to share?

As one plastic surgeon I went to put it I had "deflated well".  You might get some shrinkage but it will never tuck itself back in!

It's a ***** to lose this much and all the loose skin still makes me feel fat. No six pack here, that's for sure.

 Yeah I got stuff flopping EVERYwhere when I do jumping jacks, they actually kinda "hurt" because of that!  I know I am in the best shape of my life and still could lose another 30lbs or more, but I know part of that "weight" is excess skin.

I went into this saying I would never bother with skin surgery but if this does not go down in a year or two I might consider it.

One suggestion I heard is that once you are done losing weight / maintained for about 6 months, that the time to look at your options.  So for most patients I think that is at the 18-24-30 month range post-op?

Since I am just now at 10 months, it will be a long time before I consider surgery, until then I am working on the muscle underneath!!  Trying to work those biceps/triceps and at least "fill" the arms back up with muscle instead of fat!

A lot of WLS patients use the Under Armour (or cheap knockoffs at Walmart and Target). I tried one pair but found it too restrictive. My main issue is I have the turkey neck (wattle). Some day I would like to have a face lift...Someday.

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Hi Brian,

I too have excess skin from losing 150 lbs going from 346 to 195. Still, as Don noted I too "Deflated Well". I don't have any major concerns w/ how it looks, I would only worry if it was a medical problem due to the excess skin. Still, as I have been able to increase my exercise activity the toning defintely helps.

Good Luck!

Best,
Bill

When I started this journey I also was under the mindset that I wasn't going to go the plastic surgery route. I'm not trying to impress anyone and never was one to strut my stuff on the beach and never will.

But when I hit my goal weight, I felt incomplete. My excess skin still made me feel fat. I didn't deflate as well as I would have liked. 

I tried exercise but it will never get me to where I needed to be. It only made me feel worse as when I ran on the treadmill my man boobs applauded me. If you know what I mean.  
 
I had excess skin on my chest, Stomach, thighs and back. I found a cost effective way of getting the surgery done (Teaching Hospital). and I got an LBL last November and gynecamastia last month. The LBL took care of my Stomach, Lower back, hips and outer thighs. The gynecamastia took care of my man boobs and upper back.

Sure I still have excess skin in other places such as inner thighs and arms. Although I think they are manageable.

At this point I really feel great. Not only from a physical perspective but a mental one as well. I look in the mirror and like what I see.

 Do you mind sharing what the cost is at the teaching hospital for that kind of work?  I think I have heard $25k or so otherwise?

I paid $5k for the LBL and $2,800 for the gynecomastia. Check out my blog entries 6/16, 9/13/ 11/17 and 6/15. I discuss my consults and my experiences. I also have pictures in my profile. There are options you just have to do the reearch and find where your comfort level is. 

those prices are awesome Mike