Question:
do you have more loose skin if you have surgery after age 50?

I am 54 and 270 lbs and really worried I will look like one giant bunch of loose skin due to my age. I think my insurance will pay for the tummy tuck but what about the rest of it? does working out make a difference? thanks for your help.    — deespol (posted on July 13, 2002)

July 13, 2002
We are all different. I am 50 and have lost 120 pounds so far. My arms are like my Aunt Martha's . . . my thighs look like an elephant's butt (wrinkly beyond words) . . . my stomach has so much extra skin I feel like Silly Putty Woman. But you know, it's OK. My knees and ankles don't hurt, my blood pressure and blood sugar are normal, and I no longer snore like a freight train. I can walk up all the stairs in my house without getting winded, and can fit in restaurant booths without cutting off my circulation. Even saggy and baggy, life is good!!
   — Spunkwoman S.

July 13, 2002
what a sense of humor the previous poster has! saggy & baggy indeed lololol. i was exactly 50.5 years old at the time of surgery, weighed 272 lbs & wore size 4x tops & 24 pants. my batwings can flap with the best of them & if my butt cheeks sag anymore they will reach behind my knees. my thighs, knees, calves & ankles r all in proportion to each other without a sag in sight. my apron is my source of concern. it has lifted significantly with my 88 lb loss but, even tho it is now soft & mushy & no longer gets in my way, it too will reach my knees if it sags anymore. i am becoming obsessed over it because i am now into size 1x tops & 16 pants but, if my stomach & apron were smaller & less saggy i believe my clothing sizes would also be smaller. in other words, my stomach & apron r taking up too much of the material in my clothes. all my tops r big in the shoulders & bust & my pants have too much room from my hip bones down. the reason i am obsessing is because i do NOT want to have another surgery but im afraid i will have to have a tt so that i can wear the right size clothes for the rest of my body. on the other hand...it is a small price to pay for being able to have a stable low-normal blood pressure, no angina & my diabetes has gone away as quickly as it came. i now take 1 prescription as opposed to the 11 i was taking pre op. i can sit in restaurant booths, chairs with arms, get on the floor to play with my granddaughter & not have to call in the cranes to pick me up, take up alot less room in the bed, i dont huff & puff anymore, i dont waddle when i walk, i dont have to ask for a seat belt extender when i fly & i feel alot less claustrophobic in small areas because i fit in small areas now. all in all i feel better now than i have in 20 years & if i had to have wls every year for the rest of my life to maintain my good health & live life to its fullest, i would do it in a heartbeat!!! good luck!!
   — sheryl titone

July 13, 2002
I am a size 8 (maybe 6) person whose skin is a size 20. I have lost 130+ pounds, work out at least 5 days a week. My thighs ripple like an Austrian shade. It's not so much embarassing as it is an annoyance. I shower in the ladies locker room and don't give it a thought.<p>At 53, my skin is probably about like yours. Swimming and doing water aerobics has built a great underlying muscalature and has probably helped the skin shrink up some but the elasticity is definitely lacking.<p>I will have reconstruction if I have to hold bake sales and take collections in front of the supermarket. In the nonce I am going to strenuously encourage my insurer to pick up the tab.<p>There is no way saggy skin would have detered me from WLS. This has been my single most positive life-changing experience. I love the new me. I can walk again. I look forward to skiing again next winter. This fall 2 new grandbabies (#1 and #2 one from each of my adult children) arrive. At this size I will be able to be the gramma I want to be. I am now on only one medication instead of a handful. I find new joys to add to the list daily.<p>I was prepared for most of the sagging. The parts that I had never considered and found surprising are the extra skin in the mons and vulva and the effect of losing fat from my eyelids. Those two things are enough to send me to the plastic surgeon. While they have me out though I want them to give me a waist, raise my butt off the floor, flatten the belly, and do a goozle-ectomy (to remove loose turkey skin that used to be my three extra chins). I expect to be black and blue from top to toe---well, kneecap anyway.
   — phoebe