Question:
I had a tummy tuck in 12/03 and thigh lift 3/04...told no pain would be involved but

The thigh lift incapacitated me for 3months ---with daily nursing wound care (each day for 3 months) since the sutures open extensively prior to my hospital release..I cound not use a toilet, but had to urinate thru a funnel..my wounds were literally 5 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches deep... My MD is the best of the best with credentials out her kazoo..All the Rich & famous go to her from the Main Line in Philly...She assures me (as she did with the thigh lift) that this is a walk in the park..I have a family & home to run and only getting the procedure because of the fungal infection due to the flab and my insurance is covering 100%...If I wait until 1/2005 I have to pay $10,000 out of pocket deductable...can anyone give me the confidnece who has been thru this arm lift to tell me I'll not suffer like I did with the tigh lift???? Can you please tell me the horror stories so at least aI can mentally prepare myself & family as to what to expect...I need complete honesty ,,,,not just the I'm pretty and feel great stories..as this by-pas surgery has been a nitemare with 7 (SEVEN) follow up repair major suriers in less than 2 years......Please...if there is an honest sole out there ...please inform...I will have the surgery on 12/9 no matter what I hear due to infection & finances...but I need to know what to really expect. Thanks Irene PS Check my profile as my insurance has paid 100& ..I was originally with Blue Cross B/S of NJ and now woith Amerihealth...approval within 3 business days for all plastic surgery and payment of 100%    — irene B. (posted on November 29, 2004)

November 29, 2004
You know, I have a hard time imagining any PS would tell you that a thigh lift- one of the most notoriously PAINFUL types of PS you can get, would be a walk in the park (!?!?!) who says that? That's just not right. Anyhow...the arm lift should be less pain and trouble than any of your other surguries. The arms arent weight bearing (like the legs and abdomen) and there is no muscle work involved...Just plan on not being able to lift your arms or lift anything for a while. It doesnt sound like you have a good history of sucessful surguries, so you should logically prepare yourself for possible like complications. Good luck.
   — LMCLILLY

November 29, 2004
Given your previous experience, Maybe you should rethink this. I prepared for my cosmetic surgery by upping my vits and protein. I supplemented protein post op. I normally get all my protein from food, but in this instance I felt healing would be better with additional protein. I was really at my healthiest EVER going in. The belt lipectomy/abdominoplasty and brachioplasty were not bad at all painwise. I healed really fast and felt back to normal very fast. I have not had thighs done but will at some point. My doctor told me the thighs are the worst possible surgery. As far as the arms go, The pain was never more than the feeling of sore muscles from over exercising. I had swelling of my arms down to and including my fingers for about a week. The scarring is far worse than I anticipated. I knew it would be elbow to armpit and I was prepared for that, I was not prepared for the thick ropey appearance of the scars. Each scar has little indentations every 1/2 inch or so the whole length from the sutures under the skin. I am told the indentations will go away over time and they are improving, but the scar is getting thicker rather than thinner as I expected. The shape of my arms other wise is beautiful. My batwings were pretty bad, but maybe the scars will attract more attention if I ever have the nerve to expose them. If I had the experience you did I would think twice about another surgery tho.
   — **willow**

November 29, 2004
I just had my arms done last Tuesday 11/23/04. I also had tissue expanders inserted for breast reconstruction. I had my breasts removed 6 years ago to prevent the breast cancer that took both my sisters and my mother. My chest is very tender and tight, painful if I sleep on my side, so it's the recliner for me. ARMS: There was no lipo in my arms, just removing redundant skin. I wore the compression sleeves for 72 hours and then the doc said I didn't need to after that. It is more important if there is lipo involved to keep them on long-terms. The sleeves were uncomfortable along the incision line and darn painful on the inside fold of my elbow due to how tight they were. There was no incision there. I am a little tender along the incision now but I believe I would have gone back to my office job on Friday without any problem, but my follow up was delayed until then due to Thanksgiving. I only took my pain meds for 48 hours and resumed driving on 11/26 and am back to work full time today 11/29.
   — Shadow51

November 29, 2004
I've had an abdominoplasty and inner thigh lift. My PS told me that the inner thigh lift would be the WORST plastic surgery that I would have due to the possible complications of the skin dying and infections. Luckily, none of that happened. However, it wasn't a walk in the park either. Everything was VERY tight and the stiches at the back of my thighs kept popping open everytime I sat down to go to the bathroom. Granted, it was only a few stiches and after about 10 days that stopped happening. I had a modified brachioplasty in June of 2003. I personally thought this was the most painful out of all my plastic surgeries. My incisions are primarily under the armpit and there are some incisions (about 3 inches) down the inside of my arm from my armpit. I didn't need the full cut to my elbow. When I woke up from surgery, my arms were heavily bandaged from the top of my arm to my elbow. I don't remember much about the next 4 days as I stayed HEAVILY medicated due to the amount of pain I was in (I'm not typically the type to complain about pain unless it is severe). I was unable to lift anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks. Since you've obviously had some complications with past surgeries, I hope that you stay up on your antibiotics and take them all. Also, stay AHEAD of the pain medication by 30 minutes and that should help with any pain that you may have. My doctor had me on antibiotics for 20 days with each plastic surgery that I've had. He said he'd rather not take the chance that an infection will develop and I agree with him. I'm having a breast lift done in January and I wanted to have implants done at the same time. He told me that if I was his wife, he would only do the breast lift due to the severe ptosis of the breasts and that my skin was already compromised and he would not recommend the implants until I was 6 months post-op from the lift to see how I healed from that. I've been very fortunate in that I've had a few complications but have healed well. I decided to do as he suggested as he has proven to me time and again that he knows what he's talking about. I also agree with the previous poster in that for a doctor to say ANY surgery was a "walk in the park" but PARTICULARILY a thigh lift is ridiculous. You can have all of the credentials in the world but working with formerly morbid obese patients is MUCH different then working with "normal" plastic surgery patients. The rich and famous haven't been more then 100 pounds overweight (ok, unless your Roseanne, Carney or Al Roker) and then lost that weight and had MASSIVE amounts of skin hanging off of them. I know it's close to your surgery date, but I would still get a 2nd or 3rd opinion from another plastic surgeon before using this doctor again - especially with all of the MAJOR problems you have encountered. Good luck to you.
   — Patty H.

November 29, 2004
I can tell you as a nurse that the reputaion of a doctor from "society" is no indicator of his/her real skill. Many times that doctor is making enough money to live in their neighborhood and belong to the right clubs etc. to make connections but if you were a nurse working in the hospital with that doctor you wouldn't take your dog to them, I am not saying that specifically about your doc, I have no idea who it even is and I've never been to philly, But I KNOW it to be tryue where I live/work. As far as crdentials, someone had to graduate at the bottom of a class. We know this doctor was less than honest going in to the other surgery. Every bit of research I have done has said thigh lifts are the most painful/difficult to heal surgeries. I am just being honest, not intending to slam any particular individual but you owe it to yourself to get at least a 2nd if not 3rd opinion, and don't worry about hurting Dr. rich and famous' feelings.
   — **willow**

November 29, 2004
My ps told me from the get go that the thighlift would be the worse of my procedures and he was right!I was lucky that my incisions didn't open, but the swelling had my legs looking like elephant stumps and I coudn't get comfortable and the constant pulling at the incisions nearly drove me crazy. I had the lower body lift and abdominalplasty at the same time. When I had the breast lift and brachioplasty I had considerable pain, but I believe that my body was tired of healing and I was tired of surgeries and it seemed as if it hurt the worse. In reality it didn't. My ps also did a second thighplasty because there was so much skin to be removed. He took a total of 21 inches off my thighs! Everyone is different in how they tolerate pain and I take pain easily, but I was so tired by the last of my surgeries that I think if I had to have a splinter removed I would have needed some pain medicine! My incisions start at my elbow and go down to my waist. I had soooooo much tissue to remove. I had the breast lift at the same time, but those areas didn't bother me as much as the arm thingy. All of my incisions have healed wonderfully. Maybe you shouldn't push yourself to have another procedure at this time and give yourself some time to heal. This is not a walk in the park.
   — [Deactivated Member]

November 29, 2004
Irene, I'm sorry to hear that your experience was so awful. I can only imagine going through what you did. Fortunately for me my medial thigh lift has been the best recovery of the three major PS's I've had this year. I still cannot figure it out, because like others have said, the doc said it would be the worst. I even had 2 surgeons say they won't do the legs, with the cut up the side, due to all of the usual complications. Yes I hurt when I awoke and the pain sucked for the first few days and I was counting the minutes till I could have more pain meds, but other than that it has been uphill all the way. In my case I had a pretty good amount of skin to remove so the surgeon did major lipo back in June, when I had my upper torso lift done, in preparation for the skin removal. I think because of there being 99% skin only to remove it just made this recovery go better. The swelling was sooooo much less than from the lipo and almost no black and blue, just where he did a little more lipo for contouring at the knees. I did have the T connection open up slightly on the left leg but have been able to get by with antibiotic ointment and covering with gauze. It's healing up. Slowly, but definitely healing. The leg incisions look good. <p>I had major problems with fluid drainage and some skin die after my LBL, but still not as horrible as you describe. I guess what I am trying to say is that each surgery will be different. There is no need to assume history will repeat itself unless you always have healing issues. Make sure the surgeon plans to put in drains. That's one of the main issues that can cause incisions to open up - fluid build up. My incisions have always been closed with Dermabond glue. For my body it works awesome and leaves the least amount of scarring. My body always ends up with every little stitch mark showing if I'm sewn or stapled on the skin. <p>Like one of the other posters said, credentials ain't everything. It's talking to previous patients etc. I found my PS by the recommendation of another WLS patient but then also was fortunate enough to have the nurse from our bariatric program having previously worked at the same hospital as this doc and knew all about him. Her comment was of every PS doc in the area, he is the only one she would let touch her. She said he can be kind of rough on the nurses because he is particular about the care his patients get, but he's a perfectionist and he definitely is. He has stuck by me through all 3 recoveries and has done revision work for free. He really is invested in my transformation and wants to do the absolute best he can. However, my PS would never have told me that any of these surgeries would be a walk in the park. He made sure I understood what to expect as best he could. For any surgeon to make that comment is arrogant, as though their technique would make it painless. If you had more time, personally I would find another PS. Your experience, as severe as it was, is far from typical, even for a medial thigh lift. It makes me think she pulled the skin too tight and that's why it split open. Yes you want it tight, but too tight and skin will die. The surgeon has to be realistic. It might even be a case of this PS not really having worked much with massive WL patients. There is a diffferent art to working with us and the typical lousy skin we have compared to Ms Rich and Famous who just needs a little tightening or contouring. I would go into your pre-op appointment and hit her up with the big questions and ask her what she will do to try and avoid history repeating itself. I know everything isn't in her control but maybe some of this is. Make sure they have you on antibiotics in the hospital and send you home with a good weeks worth. Even if you do not need then it's better to take extra precautions than not. Once the infection is there it's going to take longer to heal up. I wish you good luck and a wonderful uneventful recovery.
   — zoedogcbr

November 29, 2004
Dear Irene, I'm sorry to hear about your experience with your thigh-lift. The inner thigh is under a significant amount of tension and it is a common area for complications. The key is to place supporting sutures into the deep tissue to prevent the opening of the wound. The thigh and arm lift operations are certainly not a "walk in the park". As for the arm lift operation, the most common complication is an ugly, wide scar. You are basically trading a flabby underarm for an unsightly scar. The recovery period is about a month and there is usually swelling of the hands and arms, bruising and numbness or loss of sensation around the surgical wound. If the skin resection goes beyond the armpit into the chest area, your surgeon should do a Z-plasty to prevent a scar contracture that might limit your ability to raise your arm. I would be concerned if you have an active fungal infection in the area that could lead to a post-operative wound infection and a breakdown of the wound. I hope you find this information useful. Joshua Kreithen, M.D. Lakewood Ranch Plastic Surgery, Bradenton, FL www.lakewoodranchplasticsurgery.com [email protected]
   — Joshua Kreithen, M.D.