Hawaii , Tri-Care & plastic surgery

I got a confusing and from the looks of it; form letter from Tri-Care stating that I would be put on a waiting list for plastic surgery................but any implants or botox would be out of pocket. When I saw my PCP and requested a referral for plastics not once did I mention implants or botox, tho both would be nice. LOL To top it off, I wasn't even seen by a plastic surgeon or anyone at the MTF. My records were reviewed by a committee and from what I could figure out over the phone via numerous calls to the patient reps I was I was pre-approved. Without even seeing any doctor other then my PCP. That part just shocks me. They didn't even see pics. How can they approve me without seeing me first? Never once in my almost 8 years as a military spouse have I gotten approval for something like that without seeing the actual doctor first. My PCP barely even glanced at my loose skin. I know she's not aware of how much skin there actually is. Then I was told two different things by two different patient advocates. First one said I would HAVE to have surgery at Trippler. The other said Trippler was too busy taking care of injured soldiers and all plastics was being sent out to civilian docs. Trippler won't accept phone calls in their PS department. The letter states don't call us, we'll call you. Needless to say I'm confused and it's taken me almost a year to get this far and I don't feel like I know anymore then I did day one when I first mentioned wanting to get surgery done for the loose skin. Does anyone know what's really going on? Because I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone I talk to. I desperately need some major plastic surgery. I've gone from almost 500 pounds to 230. My loose skin has it's own loose skin. Doesn't help that I'm no longer at the post where I had my surgery. There I was already on the waiting list for a TT and that was almost 2 years ago! The doctors here don't seem to know what to do with me as a WLS post-op patient and almost treat me like an oddity. ~Tanja

I totally understand about getting different answers from different people. I got the run around for over a year.....tired of the BS, i got a loan.. lol. (for RNY not plastics) I hope you have better luck then i did. At least you are on a waiting list.

I think what you may need to do is call Tri-Care and see if the referrel for a civie doc has been put in so you can get your plastics. I know my story is a little different however, it still may work the same way, when I needed to see the Gyn for my yearly thing the MFT was booked up for a few months so I called the patient advocate at the hospital and told them that I needed it done ASAP and that it would be months before i could be seen at the Army hospital so she told me to find a doc... call her back with a name and she would put in a referrel so that I could see that doc, I called her back with a name and within two weeks I got a letter in the mail from Tri-Care that referred me to that specific Doctor. Not sure if that helps you out any at all but maybe find a doctor that accepts Tri-Care and call the Tri-Care Patient Advocate and give them the name. Worth a try right??? sorry I couldn't help more. Donna