Question:
PLASTIC SURGERY HELP!

I just had a consultation for plastic surgery. I still have about 10-15 pounds to lose. I was hoping for a lower body lift but he said I still have a little to much FAT in my outer thighs to do it. He recomends doing my belly first and then doing my legs seperately. He would cut almost completely around each leg and then pull up and remove the skin. Does this sound like the way to go or should I wait and lose the 15 and then have a lower body lift? Any info. would be appreciated, thank you, Kelly*    — Kelly* P. (posted on February 25, 2004)

February 25, 2004
Kelly, First of all...congrats on such a great weight loss!! I too am ready for plastics and although, I can have my entire body lift done at this time, I am debating on whether to do it all together or seperately. It will definately be more cost effective if you do the entire body lift at one time, but I think recovery might be a little easier if you do them seperately. Although, I have to say that it would be a great motivator to lose those last 15 lbs if you decided to wait. I have personally decided that I'm going to go for the whole thing at once but the thought of trying to sleep with that incision around my entire body really scares me. YIKES!!! Something to think about...best of luck to you and once again.....CONGRATS!!! Denise RNY 280/139/below goal
   — denisel

February 25, 2004
Hi Kelly - definately a tough call, but if you like your surgeon, trust him. Excess fat hugely impacts recovery! I had a panni 6+ months ago and am not recovered because of "fat necrosis". Fat tissue doesn't get good blood supply and that makes healing much harder. I need to do it again after I'm finally at goal and I'm actually dreading it....
   — jen41766

February 25, 2004
I'm having my inner thighs done in May. He will be cutting the same way as your doctor except I don't need outer thigh work - only inner thigh. I did find that by walking A LOT, I think it caused me to not need the outer thighs done. Maybe you might want to try walking 5 days a week for about 30 minutes and see what happens over the next month or so. It would also be good to help you lose the 15 pounds you want to lose.
   — Patty H.

February 25, 2004
I wanted my plastic surgeon to remove the tumor (that's what I called it/fat pocket) that had grown at the inside of my left knee (I had only lost 100 pounds at this time) They can do that but he explained that legs are tough to heal and if you have excess weight it pulls on the incisions and you can end up with open wounds to deal with. I had to live with this thing but the good news was that I started losing the weight there. I wouldn't think that an extra 10-15 pounds would be that big a deal. If you like your PS then do it his way, otherwise, get a second opinion.
   — bbjnay

February 28, 2004
Go with your docs plan...I often advise "staging" procedures for several reasons. 15lbs really isn't a lot of weight...nothing a little lipo couldn't fix but I haven't seen you !
   — DrL

February 28, 2004
Personally I find his reasoning for not doing a LBL a little strange as the whole idea of the LBL is to lipo and remove the excess fat in the outer thighs and then pull it all up. I just had mine done last Monday and trust me I had tons of skin and fat in the outer thigh area. Yes I still need the thighplasty on the inside to make my legs look ideal, but it is amazing the contour I now have on my lower body. Something I have NEVER seen. I went into surgery at 216.7 lbs and my goal weight is 200 lbs. I came out of surgery under goal weight because he removed just short of 19 lbs, so personally I don't agree that one needs to wait till goal weight. Yes there is a slight risk if I keep losing that I will have some loose areas, but I doubt it as tight as everything is pulled. I did not set a super ideal goal weight as I want to be able to maintain my weight without being a slave to a diet or the gym, just want to live a normal life with reasonable food choices and reasonable amounts of exercise. I'm sure I will drop about another 10-12 lbs after the last two surgeries and that is as far as I want to go. 180 is the absolute lowest I want to be and I will likely be there when PS is done.
   — zoedogcbr