Don't get me wrong but..

I will just reiterate what others have said here. I had a full LBL. Look at my profile pics and see the results. My outer thighs are smaller. My stomach is flat. My butt is much smaller. He took off 20 pounds from me, 16 of which have shown on the scale at 5 weeks out.

I'm just about in wonderland. Even though he didn't do my inner thighs those were slightly lifted too.. about 50% improvement on those despite no work done on them. If you can wait and save up, it's worth it.

If pannus is your only option financially, than it's better then nothing. Like others have said, I wouldn't have been happy with just the pannus, but luckily I had an inheritance for the money.

I'd rather have my mom back, but at least she left me some money that I put to good use. I hope she's smiling down at me in my happiness from her spot in heaven.

 I realize that some people don't have the extra money but there are a lot of people that just do not know the difference.  I personally just want to make sure that people know the diff.  And if you are going to upgrade to a TT then is the time to do it.  You save a lot of money by just being in surgery already.  I would not have been happy with a panni only but if that is all I could get then it is far better than nothing.  I think people here just care about supporting others and want to make sure that everyone is informed.

Sounds like this is a very sensitive issue for you and someone touched a nerve.

Good luck to you on whatever you do

Patty

 It def. is a sensitive issue but nobody touched a nerve - I just try to word carefully so as to not start anything totally negative lol.  I'm on medi-cal and I do know that if they find out you've paid for part of the surgery then they will end up denying to pay out what they were going to pay for..it's just not allowed. My surgeon actualy said he has had patients get the entire bill becuase of that and he would rather donate a few hours of his services than to see the patient unhappy or broke because of insurance.   

Personally, I've just had way too many people lately tell me in regards to my vitamins, "oh its only $40 if you order it online and shipping is only five.... it just seems that what may be "cheap" to some is expensive to others.  Its nothing aganst anyone on here or anything you guys have said, you've all been supportive to a T for me.  It's more my husbands family that struck the nerve lol it was post wedding "grr-ism".   

My surgeon quoted me $8k for a 360 degree lower body lift but i just dont have it.  even if it were only 500, its still not there and i'd have to save up ...we're eating top ramen at the end of the month and thats what *I* mean by I can't afford it.  My husbands family though argued about spending about 100 bucks on our wedding from a credit card because they just put down 90k on a house ...just a bit bitter at people - and nobody on here lol

 I was not sure what you meant by "upgrade" to a full abdominoplasty.  Til I kept reading, and I take it that people are talking about the muscle repair?  I had muscle repair.  The reason was, I wanted my waist to have that pulled in hour glass look.  And it sure worked.  But for people who don't care about having that, you don't have to get the muscle repair.  I know folks who did not have it and they are happy with their results.

One thing I know...  the muscle repair...  oh man.  I did not realize how much of my stomach muscles I used until after that surgery.  Whew.  

Melsreturn, A panni removal means just removing the lower hanging skin. Nothing above the belly button. Just cut that pannus off. It looks very misshapen and the upper portion of the stomach hangs down when you sit down or bend over. The full TT is much more than the muscle tightening. There is a huge difference in the appearance.