Excess Skin, Plastics???

Question for those of you who are a year or more out? What have been your experiences with excess skin and the need for plastic surgery? I am 2 weeks post-op and am looking for experiences and suggestions for how to minimize and/or deal with the possible problem of hanging skin. I am 27, started pre-op at 262lbs. I know a lot has to do with age and starting weight as well as individual genetics. Thank you!

Only thing you can do is exercise, drink water and be glad that you are young! I went to webmd.com and searched womens arm exercises... they came up with a whole routine and its done with free weights. I also purchased a resistance band and that came with its own set of workouts for arms and legs. Thats pretty much all you can do. With PS I think for many it comes down to WANTING it and not needing it... all really depending on your size, age and how you body bounces back.

I'll be totally happy just to lose the weight, excess skin or not, just trying to get an idea of what to expect. I'll take your advice of exercise (which of course i knew) and the water (good tip!). Thank you!

Extra skin has to do with all the factors above. You never know how your body will handle it. I started at 312lbs and am at 190 now. Knowing that I need to lose another 30lbs I am considering plastics already. I will wait to have a tummy tuc****il after I have kids. One thing to remember. If you have strech marks... that is damaged skin and it isnt going to go away. That skin will be "extra". My lower stomach and hip area was full of strech marks and so I have extra skin there. My arms arent as bad as I have seen in other people but they do bother me. My thighs look horrible. I have alot of excess skin on my inner thigh. And my boobs - ADIOS! I am getting a breast lift and implant in Jan/Feb. That will be the first step in my plastic journey.

Yeah, I agree with waiting until after having kids but will the insurance cover it at that point? Would they cover it at this point...? Who knows.... I'm mostly worried about my arms and boobs. My legs are probably going to be okay but I've always been heavier in the arms and have quite a few stretch marks there. My tummy is okaaay but not great. I have some stretch marks in the lower belly but that's about it. We'll see how things progress but I plan to do LOTS of exercise to diminish this! Thanks for the advice!

from what i've compared at my support group, i think i've gotten off easy in the excess skin dept. of course, for women WLS is not as kind to our skin as it is for the guys. i've noticed my body will loose weight, be flabby, then tone itself a bit over the space of a few weeks. at one point i had really wobbly inner upper thighs but then the body fixed that and a month later, no flappy inner thighs! the key is being patient. my surgeon said it can take up to TWO YEARS for the body to fully react to the weight loss. that's a long time and many people don't want to wait that long. when you get down to the point where a tummy tuck is the difference between a size 8 or a size 6, i can understand a woman's impatience. yeah, the boobs really do suffer. you'll have old lady boobs no matter what. just remember when it comes to implants, the shelf life is only about 10 years so expect to replace them later in life. this is why i'm not doing implants, maybe only a lift using natural body fat. the advice you got regarding working out is key!! the only way to actively help the body reabsorb the skin is weight lifting. i suggest finding a personal trainer to craft a specific routine to cover the areas of the body you are particularly concerned about. if i could do anything again, i wouldn't have waited until 9 months out from surgery to start weight lifting. lifting will tone and speed up the weight loss as well as increase the TOTAL AMOUNT YOU WILL LOOSE (according to the peer mentors at my group). but only if done within the first 6 MONTHS after surgery. better late than never, but i missed out on that window and am now having to work harder to get to my weight loss goals. learn from my mistakes and get thee to a gym. regularly. sounds simple but for me, it was a very difficult habit to create and one i'm still struggling with. -kari

I definitely plan on starting a gym program as soon as I'm feeling up to it. Right now, a short swim and short walks are about all I can handle. I'm not planning on getting a boob job (as far as implants). I don't think "size" will be an issue but I will want a lift. Other than that, I can probably live with the rest of it if it's bad. We'll just have to wait and see. I know exactly what you mean. I want to do this thing right from the beginning and not think back... "I wish..." lol. Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it!