Starting the PS process, home or mexico?

Thanks for the pics! Very helpful.

I have a couple questions.

If you get a tummy tuck only instead of a lower body lift, does it also pull up some of the loose skin in the inner thigh area? I dont have a lot there just a little saggy.

Is a butt lift  and a tummy tuck a simpler alternative to a full LBL?

When you get a breast lift w/aug does it take care of that flabby skin just under your armpit, the skin that hangs over the bra?

Oh, and is it normal for the doctor to ask you to email pics of you in just your underwear? 

thanks,
donna

I'm no expert, but I'll try to answer some of your questions:

A regular tummy tuck won't address loose skin on your inner thigh. Even a LBL won't do that - just lifts outer thighs. A regular tummy tuck won't address your outer thighs, but an extended tummy tuck might.

A butt lift and a tummy tuck is a LBL. You can have the LBL seperated into two procedures (I had a surgeon suggest that): butt lift and tummy tuck.

The breast lift with augmentation will not really address the skin under your arm unless the surgeon extends the incision from the breast lift into that area. I have seen pictures of people with this type of incision. Guess this would be an alternative to an UBL if you didn't have any loose skin on your upper back.

Yes, it's normal for the doctor to ask you to e-mail pics of you in your underwear. The only way they can tell you what they will be able to do and for what cost is if they see what they'll be working with.

Good luck on your journey.
Eileen

Sounds like you hit the nail on the head. Everything I see here sounds 100% correct to me.

You are generally much better off having these types of complex surgeries near where you live for a number of reasons, and that's going to be the advice of almost any professional familiar with massive weight patients and plastic surgery.

The aftercare for these procedures is substancial, with many of the common complications (wound healing, sutures spitting, seromas, etc..) presenting weeks out from surgery. Traveling long distances in the early post-operative period (ie. an international plane flight) is a known risk factor for blood clots (DVT), which is already elevated substancially in large body contouring cases like your body lift. If you live in SoCal, AZ, NM, or Texas and are within reasonable driving distance, then it's more reasonable to consider surgery south of the border if you're willing to overlook state department advisories warning against travel in many areas of Mexico.

Thank you. That has been my biggest concern. That the time in which complications can happen is substantially longer than with the WLS I had. I did not know about the potential of blood clots and plane travel until later.
I have an appt at a teaching hospital which will probably be the way I go.
donna

Donna,

While there are many who have had excellent experiences in Central/South America, some of the logistics, risks, and frequent complications tend to get glossed over. If you don't live near your surgeon (and this is just as true here in the USA), you need to have a mechanism in place to deal with problems and your surgeon needs to be able to provide the contact of a surgical colleague who could temporize or manage things if needed. If they can't do that, then you consider looking at other options. Expecting your primary care provider (PCP) to be able to diagnose or manage issues here stateside following a complex bariatric body contouring case in Mexico is both unrealistic and underestimates the real risk of complications that occur in weight loss patients. I wouldn't feel comfortable endorsing surgery in Mexico unless you lived near the border and could travel easily for frequent follow up.