Has anyone had a body lift and is more than a few years out?

Hi, I had my RNY open bariatric surgery back in 2013.

Now, I still feel fat and gross because I have all this flab just hanging about.  Anyway, I had to see my PCP about something unrelated to this, but I did inquire into getting a full body lift some day.  He warned me that he has a lot of patients who've had the surgery and were very happy with the results, but those same patients come back to him 10 years later to ask him why they suddenly have bulges as if a corset started popping at the seams.  He says that eventually the material used to tighten the muscles in the stomach eventually do come loose and they even break!  So, he told me to be sure to read the fine print.  I've also read that women who get implants also have to return in about 10 years to have the old ones taken out and news put in.

Anyway, has anyone experienced this or other problems about 10 years out?

I have a large hernia where my stitching was started and I was asking him about that at the time.  I wondered if Medicare would pay for any of this to be fixed along with my having a body lift.

Very interesting question. I hope you get responses.

The only part I can address is that I had an incisional abdominal hernia as the result of an open RNY in 2001 and repairing it was covered by insurance. In 2013, I combined repairing it with a tummy tuck because it was more affordable since the surgeon had me under, and was in the area already. A week ago, I had a body lift and some other procedures because the tummy tuck resulted in "dog ears", extra handfuls of skin at the hips.

Good luck in your journey!

Thank you! :)

So, what's the difference between a body lift, body contouring, and a tummy tuck?  It seems that various doctors have their own names for various procedures.  Can you answer this questions for me?

Thank you for your time in responding.

:)

I'll answer in the way that i understand it, but could be wrong too.. "Mybariatriclife" posts here and made a website with pretty specific descriptions, and caplellainfo.net is the site for my surgeon Dr. Capella in Ramsey NJ. There is info there too.

In 2013, had a tummy tuck with a fleur de lis incision. The scar is like an upside down "T", (or a fleur de lis). I had a vertical hernia, so reason to make a vertical scar anyway, so they did it this way. With this incision you can be pulled in from the sides and from the top down and bottom up. This tummy tuck does nothing to address the back side, so at some point (just around the hips) the incision has to stop, and meet with the extra skin in the back. Depending on your anatomy, that can leave kind of a fold (like a hospital corner if you're making a bed?), called "dog ears". 

Some tummy tucks are just a horizontal scar, where the skin is only pulled up and down and then sewn together.

I believe a body lift includes contouring with Dr. Capella, which would be some lipo, in addition to the skin pulling. The positive thing about the body lift, as Dr. C explained it to me, is that in order to get the best result you are pulling tight skin to tight skin. The body lift is a scar that goes around the entire body like a belt, more or less at low hip. I had a saggy backside, in addition to the lumps at my hips, so this is no more after the body lift. A little hard to see with my current pics, as I am only a week out and still hunched over and swollen, but I've posted a lot of pics at various stages that might help to illustrate what I'm saying.

And then there is the issue of muscle tightening beneath it all, or not. (muscle Plication ?). Another consideration with it's pros and cons.

Good luck :-)

Thank you, again, ICG63! :)

Thanks for sharing my website! It is much appreciated!

Speedy recovery to you, my dear!!!

I'm not 10 years out but just shy of 7 years from my plastics and 8 from RNY. I've not had any problems w/ my abs at all. Even with regaining about 60+ lbs since the plastics my stomach has stayed flat and now that I'm losing again it still is good. Things do settle a bit within a year or so of surgery but no bulges in site from my surgery at this time. Now I did have good ab muscles going in and my surgeon said he really didn't need to tighten them but still did since he was in there so don't know if that makes a difference or not. I guess I would say if you're going to do the surgery make the commitment to work out after to avoid possible bulges.

Not sure about the implants  but mine still seem to be good. My surgeon didn't say anything about replacing them. I know his nurse had her's replaced years after she had them but initially had saline and then went to silicone. I think now that most people are using silicone again you don't really need to have them replaced as much as you did w/ saline implants. But I'm no medical expert so could be wrong in that.

Thank you so much for your reply, sonnieN!  I appreciate your feedback! :)

I had a fleur de lis also over 2 years ago and I have kept my weight in check but I will tell you it did NOT fix my head.  I have always been over weight so ladies with flat bellies always look weird to me, and now I am that weird looking lady! I also notice the other parts, like before I did not notice how bad my thighs were , but now that I don't have all this belly skin (removed nearly 12lbs) my thighs appear bigger to me since before I could not see them. 

It also did nothing for my upper body well not much, I did not go all the way around in the back and I have a lot of skin around my ribs and upper back, I can hide it for the most part but finding bras are hard. 

I think over all (watch skin tight) you will find that unless you do multiple surgeries to fix all the areas (and even if you do) there is a high possibility that you will never look like a normally skinny person.  If you can live with that then you are good.  I am happy for the most part but possible because I was never thin, so I dont know what my body looks like thin no comparison. 

Yeah, I understand abut the head thing.  While everybody tells me how small I am, I look down and say, "but I'm huge -- smaller -- but still huge" because I see all the flab that I have to hide under clothes.  I'm so tired of hiding my body.  I know I won't be the picture of perfection if I'm ever able to have a tummy tuck or a body lift, but I really want to know what to expect 10 or more years out.

Thank you for responding! :)