Confused about a Pannilectomy

I am 6 years post opt and have been trying to get approved for a pannilectomy I just had another consult with a plastic surgeon yesterday but am still feeling discourage.  I have a huge amout of excess skin above my belly button to the point where it sticks out so much under my shirts.  The plastic surgeon said a Panni only removes skin below the belly button so does this mean I will still have this huge amout of skin above the belly button.  I cannot afford a tummy tuck and I am not looking for perfection, but I do need for the fullnest of the skin above my belly button and the skin on my back  to smooth out a bit so that it does not poke out so much.  I am discourage that a Panni will not help me at all, should I even bother about trying to get approve for this.

I've had more than a panni, so I really don't know specifically if it would enough for what you need.  Have all the consults you've been to told you the same thing?

In any of the before and after pictures you've seen, has there been someone who has your body shape that went through just the panni?

Not sure who you went to, but I'm from Cleveland as well - I went to Dr. Leedy at Hillcrest for my work.  He was very good about explaining to me how my body would change during the consult.  Everything he showed me, came out exactly as he described then.  His website is www.drleedy.com

I found this for you too, not sure if it helps, but it might:  http://rlbatesmd.blogspot.com/2007/12/panniculectomy-vs-abdominoplasty.html

If you can get insurance approval for the panniculectomy can you pay the difference?  I guess the upshot here is that the insurance companies may view the panniculectomy as medically necessary but do not view the muffin top as medically necessary.  Is the skin on the upper abdomen causing you any medical issues?

My surgeon is doing a full tummy tuck and I paid the 500 dollar difference.  He's doing a cut just below the breast area down to belly button then hip to hip.  The tummy tuck is the muscle portion of the surgery doesnt really have anything to do above the belly button.  Some doctors will do a full tummy tuck which is what I'm doing.

Actually from what my Dr. explained the difference w/ the pannilectomy & TT is more that just muscle tightening. A pannilectomoy is just the removal of the skin from below the belly button. A full tummy tuck involves muscle tightening but also they go and loosen the skin above the belly botton and pull that down like a window shade also repositioning the belly button. This will get rid of some of the excess skin above the belly button since it is pulled down. Others opt to have the anchor tummy tuck which involes the vertical incision so they can also pull the skin in from the sides if you have a lot of excess skin above the belly button.