How long between procedures?
You have to work with your PS to do not just what is comfortable for you, but what is comfortable for them. That being said, I had everything I had done (see my siggy) a month apart.
It's aggressive, and not everyone can handle it. I always knew leading up to the second surgery that if I didn't feel ready or if my PS didn't think I was ready, that I could postpone the second.
It's not something I'd recommend for everyone, but for me it was the best way to go.
It's aggressive, and not everyone can handle it. I always knew leading up to the second surgery that if I didn't feel ready or if my PS didn't think I was ready, that I could postpone the second.
It's not something I'd recommend for everyone, but for me it was the best way to go.
RNY: 10/11/2001 PS: May 28, 2010: Circumferential body lift with gluteal augmentation and brachioplasty & thoracoplasty June 25, 2010: Bilateral breast augmentation with mastopexy and medial thigh lift
I had my my mons lift and arms done just 6 weeks after my panniculectomy (since the surgeon who did the panni refused to do the mons... literally as he was marking me in the prep room). Even though the mons surgery required re-cutting some of the panni incision line, it was fine.
Six months seems a long time to wait to me, too, but patience has never been one of my virtues...
Lora
Six months seems a long time to wait to me, too, but patience has never been one of my virtues...
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
I had my LBL & arms done together then 3 months later had my MTL and BA/BL done. I was the one who chose to wait for the 2nd procedure. I had been out of the gym for 7 weeks and wanted to get back at it for a few weeks before I was out of commission again. Guess you have to do what ever your surgeon will alllow.
My surgeon prefers to wait 6 months but will do it in 3. He says it takes that long for the things to settle and the swelling to subside. It normally can take about 3-6 months to a year to see the final outcome of a procedure. I also think it's best to wait so if you need a touchup on any round one procedures it can be done with round two. There are very rare cases that my surgeon would do it in less time but would prefer not to. Besides an experienced surgeon does these procedures all the time and they know based on their experience what can happen if you have surgery before things have settled. Part of which that patients will be unhappy with the results after everything has settled once it's all said and done. Then they'll remind of what they told you before you even started!
Duodenal Switch - July 2006
Baylor Residency Program - Houston, TX - June 2009/March 2010
Baylor Residency Program - Houston, TX - June 2009/March 2010
Aloha L-
Just as not every patient is a good candidate for combining procedures, neither is every patient a good candidate for a short inter-surgical interval. Plastics are long anesthetic procedures ( 4-10 hours) involving lots of muscle and skin healing ( yards sometimes!) and liposuctioning (which creates pockets of dead space that the body wants to fill up with serum).
Your age, health, and general body condition have alot to do with it- if you weigh 140 with a large per cent body fat vs weighing 140 with a higher percentage of lean muscle mass, the person with more muscle mass is going to heal faster hands down. Why? Because they have more protein stores to draw from ( meaning if you don't get enough dietary protein in, your body can pull the protein from your musculature) both for healing and keeping your immune system strong to fight off infection. You also tend to be in better cardiovascular shape from all the working out, meaning your body is better equipped to handle a long period of being under anesthesia ( and its accompanying problems with ventilation and blood pressure issues). On certain patients, your surgeon might have combined those procedures, or asked another surgeon to be in the OR so you would have your arms and tummy worked on simultaneously- shortens the anesthetic time, but doubles the stress of healing as you had much more damage to healthy tissue (arms AND tummy having to heal now). For some, it's the combination of procedures making it physically challenging for the patient to heal- like an inner thigh lift while working on the mons, tummy, and arms- that person is out of commission, can't use arms OR legs afterwards. See how it works?
My PS gave a presentation detailing how to shorten your intersurgical inteval. He said be in the best shape of your life physically- plenty of weight training so you had lots of muscle stores to draw upon, and plenty of cardio so your heart, lungs and excretory systems are at their peak to handle and metabolize the anesthetic and other drugs you are given. Have any medical conditions well controlled- diabetes, hypothyroidism- that might delay healing. Have your skin in the best shape possible- no rashes under your pannus. NO SMOKING- plastic surgeons will refuse to operate on you at all if you are a smoker due to problems with their microvasculature- they simply don't heal. Workouts increase your flexibility and core strength, making it easier for you to get up and move around post op, which improves your circulation, and decreases post op edema, and decreases your stress and cortisol level ( cortisol delays healing). I healed very fast- he did a CBL, BL/BA on me--- 6.5 hours under--- and was given the OK to return to the gym for yoga and stretching at 12 days post op, and got the OK for cardio and weight training at 21 days post op- and I'm almost 50. So being in the best shape possible led to an amazingly easy and fast recovery. I'm not looking to have anything else done, but feel I could do it no problem if I had to- at 6 months out. There is definitely a time period during 1 and 4 months where your shape changes post op- the thickening ( induration) of the scar tissue goes away, the dissovable sutures are absorbed, excess fluid is eliminated- you need this time to see what you are going to look like before attacking another body part.
Be well, and remember- you only get one chance at healing right the first time- so focus on that, do it well, and you will be at 100% to handle any other trauma to your system. XOXOLori
Just as not every patient is a good candidate for combining procedures, neither is every patient a good candidate for a short inter-surgical interval. Plastics are long anesthetic procedures ( 4-10 hours) involving lots of muscle and skin healing ( yards sometimes!) and liposuctioning (which creates pockets of dead space that the body wants to fill up with serum).
Your age, health, and general body condition have alot to do with it- if you weigh 140 with a large per cent body fat vs weighing 140 with a higher percentage of lean muscle mass, the person with more muscle mass is going to heal faster hands down. Why? Because they have more protein stores to draw from ( meaning if you don't get enough dietary protein in, your body can pull the protein from your musculature) both for healing and keeping your immune system strong to fight off infection. You also tend to be in better cardiovascular shape from all the working out, meaning your body is better equipped to handle a long period of being under anesthesia ( and its accompanying problems with ventilation and blood pressure issues). On certain patients, your surgeon might have combined those procedures, or asked another surgeon to be in the OR so you would have your arms and tummy worked on simultaneously- shortens the anesthetic time, but doubles the stress of healing as you had much more damage to healthy tissue (arms AND tummy having to heal now). For some, it's the combination of procedures making it physically challenging for the patient to heal- like an inner thigh lift while working on the mons, tummy, and arms- that person is out of commission, can't use arms OR legs afterwards. See how it works?
My PS gave a presentation detailing how to shorten your intersurgical inteval. He said be in the best shape of your life physically- plenty of weight training so you had lots of muscle stores to draw upon, and plenty of cardio so your heart, lungs and excretory systems are at their peak to handle and metabolize the anesthetic and other drugs you are given. Have any medical conditions well controlled- diabetes, hypothyroidism- that might delay healing. Have your skin in the best shape possible- no rashes under your pannus. NO SMOKING- plastic surgeons will refuse to operate on you at all if you are a smoker due to problems with their microvasculature- they simply don't heal. Workouts increase your flexibility and core strength, making it easier for you to get up and move around post op, which improves your circulation, and decreases post op edema, and decreases your stress and cortisol level ( cortisol delays healing). I healed very fast- he did a CBL, BL/BA on me--- 6.5 hours under--- and was given the OK to return to the gym for yoga and stretching at 12 days post op, and got the OK for cardio and weight training at 21 days post op- and I'm almost 50. So being in the best shape possible led to an amazingly easy and fast recovery. I'm not looking to have anything else done, but feel I could do it no problem if I had to- at 6 months out. There is definitely a time period during 1 and 4 months where your shape changes post op- the thickening ( induration) of the scar tissue goes away, the dissovable sutures are absorbed, excess fluid is eliminated- you need this time to see what you are going to look like before attacking another body part.
Be well, and remember- you only get one chance at healing right the first time- so focus on that, do it well, and you will be at 100% to handle any other trauma to your system. XOXOLori
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