Plastic surgery when?

i know you have to have a stable weight before plastic surgery should be scheduled. I am dying to get my arms and stomach done, as lost q lot of weight on my own before surgery, and already have the droop in many places. How long after surgery did you wait, was it a year? Did you go in for a procedure earlier in the weight loss journey and then go back for a revision? And when did you go for your first consultation? Ultimately I believe I will need a lower body lift, breast lift and arm lift.

I think opinions will vary...I had surgery in December 2013 at 351 lbs. I reached my goal of 160 lbs about two weeks shy of my one year surgiversary in December 2014. I bounced around in the 150s and 160s for the next six months and had my lower body lift and breast lift in April 2015 (which was 1.5 years post-op RNY). Then, I had an arm lift in December 2015 (which was 2 years post-op RNY). I felt like I had personally waited long enough and was in "maintenance" and I wanted to do it for my mental health and because I have read that having plastic surgery (going through the pain and the cost!) can help ensure long-term success.

That being said, I am now experiencing the difficulty of maintenance in year 3 (I am 3.5 years post-op RNY) and would love to lose 15 lbs. Or should I say, I need to put in the effort to lose 15 lbs.

I am glad I did my plastic surgery when I did, but I don't think it's a one size fits all answer.

Good luck whatever you decide! I am absolutely thrilled with my results (see the post prior to this). I highly recommend that you try to seek out surgeons who have trained in post massive weight loss body contouring, since the needs of a person who had 3 kids is very different than someone who has lost 180 lbs, for example!

It really depends on the person and the surgeon.

Ideally, you should reach the weight you plan to maintain and stay there for a year before having plastic surgery.

However, life is not always ideal.

I'm about 20-40 pounds away from my goal and I just had my first of 3 surgeries about 2.5 weeks ago. Is this ideal? Nope. Are there people here who are likely judging me for this choice? Sure. Do I care? Nope.

Worst case, I'll need to revise at some point down the road. Even if that happens, I'm still going to be in a hell of a lot better shape with excess skin from 20-40 pounds of weight loss vs. the 160 pounds of weight loss I'm currently at. I can't imagine the skin from 20-40 more pounds of loss will cause me the same issues that my current excess skin causes me.

For me, this is the right time to pursue reconstructive plastic surgery. My surgeon, who is excellent, didn't disagree. It's the right time because I've finished my first college degree and my second one is all online. It's the right time because I'd like to start working in my field next year and once I start working I'll be a n00b and it will take forever to build up the vacation time I'd need to take for surgery and there's no way I'd be able to get them done all within the same 6-7 month period due to lack of vacation time. It's the right time because I see reconstructive plastics as an insurance policy against regain for me. It's the right time because I can afford it.

But, ultimately, there is that ideal time and, ultimately, we all have to do the equations that make the most sense for our own selves.

How much vacation time do you need for procedures such as those I need? Is it a couple weeks? More? Especially for the lower body lift which I think is the most intrusive...

The standard I've read here is 2-6 weeks, but it depends on the work you do and the surgery. It seems that breast/upper back is easiest to recover from compared to lower body lift and thighs. Arms seem somewhere in the middle.

(This is just what I've gleaned from reading through a LOT of the old posts in the plastics forum here.)

I did LBL and arms 17 days ago. I can't imagine driving myself anywhere at this point. I'm a student and my summer term class started on Monday the 19th. I'm having a hard time focusing just to read the material. (Online class = primarily reading and writing and thinking.) Just the one class is challenging at 17 days post-op. I get distracted easily and I want to sleep a lot.

But someone else might have a totally different recovery/healing process. So it's one of those things that's sort of a crapshoot.

My surgeon requires no exercise for 6 weeks post-op. So I figured, in my planning, that I'd have 2 weeks of "hard" recovery (when I planned on doing NOTHING) and then 4 weeks of "easy" recovery (where I could do limited things like online college, go out to see movies in the theater with reclining chairs, etc.) But that's for LBL + Arms. I figure my next surgery will be easier. I am, however, getting a bit nervous about the medial thighs in November.

I also lost a lot pre-op and maintained that loss for a few years. Then I had surgery and will be at/around goal by the 6 month mark. I'm planning on starting my count there and making appointments for consults in early 2018 (I'll be 1 year post op then). I'm ready for this **** to go!

I had WLS in March 2016 and have been at my current weight (115) since December 2016. I had a TT in January 2017.

My surgeon required me to maintain my goal weight for a year before she would do any plastics. My surgery was totally elective and I did not have any issues that would have made it medically necessary (e.g., rashes, skin break down, infections). The timeline might have been different if that were the case.