I didn't realize plastic surgery was so common

Hello again. As I've stated in the general discussions forum, I am new to obesity help. I won't be ready for surgery until June/July. I've been looking through the posts here. I didn't realize that plastic surgery was so common. I know my insurance will cover PS if I develop rashes and what not in the skin folds, but is that very common to develop rashes? Do most people do it for cosmetic reasons, skin issues, or both? (no judgement either way). Is loose skin worse if you loose a lot of weight really fast, or if you have a larger amount to loose? I will probably loose around a hundred pounds. According to the BMI I need to loose about 190 lbs, but I just don't think that would make me look healthy. I'm 330 now and BMI says like 140-175 (I'm 5'10") with my surgeon saying closer to 140. I was 175-190 from about middle school through age 18. I've thought about my boobs sagging, but I didn't really think about all my other parts. Should I prepare myself a lot of loose skin? I'll talk to my team about it at my next appointment, but reading through some posts have got me thinking. Anyone around my size before surgery? How did your body look with the weight loss? Does my height give me any advantage in the loose skin department?

Thanks for reading,

Amanda

Hi there.

I think you might be getting a skewed impression. The number of people who lose massive amounts of weight, and maintain, is pretty small, and the number of -those- people who pursue reconstructive surgery is pretty small. So it's probably not as common as this forum makes it out to be!

I didn't develop any rashes with my weight loss, but I also wouldn't say I had reconstructive surgery for cosmetic purposes. I had it because my excess skin was impacting my ability to do the things I wanted to do - like jumping jacks. Even running wasn't comfortable due to the excess skin and compression gear only helped so much. And then, the big thing, I could adjust my finances to be able to pay for it.

You may or may not have excess skin, it may or may not bother you. You can start saving money now, just in case, and if you find you don't want plastics... hey, new car! Or vacation. Or whatever!

That makes sense, I didn't think about it like that. I'm probably just a little overwhelmed. It's just REALLY starting to sink in about what's going to be happening. And I am finding new things I haven't though about before joining this online group. I like that advice to start saving now. If I don't use it, I could go on a nice vacation!

For what it's worth, it didn't even cross my mind that I'd want reconstructive surgery after losing weight. That was something that "other people did." :P Especially since I was never bothered by how my body looked, before or after the weight loss. I was just annoyed with how it functioned!

It's hard to be prepared for anything, eh? :)

I echo everything that Gwen said - plus add that I don't know if skin issues are common or not (I never had any skin issues). Most of us who pursue PS seem do it for cosmetic and/or functional reasons.

I lost over 200 lbs and had a lot of loose skin. I was (and still am) apple-shaped, so most of it was in my gut, but it was easy to hide. I just tucked it into my jeans or a pair of tummy-control leggings and wore tops that were slightly oversized for me and long enough to cover my gut. No one knew the extra skin was there besides my doctor and my husband.

After a couple of years it started driving me nuts, though - just looking at it and having to lift up that mound of skin to wash under it when I was in the shower. So I decided to have it taken care of. I'm really glad I did it - I look like a "normal" person again (well, at least when I have my underwear on, that is - otherwise, there's a scar that goes completely around my body - but it's very low - below my underwear line). PS is major surgery (and expensive, too), though, so I don't think many people pursue it. My surgeon said he thought about 10% of his patients pursue it - but I think it was just a guess. Sounds plausible, though.