Surgery (tummy tuck).

[Auguzt]

Is there someone that has undergone that kind of a surgery. I.e. tummy tuck where exceed skin is removed?
If _you_ have, what is your experience, are you happier after the surgery, where the results good?

Thanks!

Regards.
(Also posted to "Misc.".

[Kylo]

Your only 11% bf and you want a tummy tuck? Good luck if you go ahead

[DeezGst]

IMO Lame! First get into the single digit BF%'s like 8% or so. Then see just "how much" loose skin you really have. People mistake fat for loose skin far to often. Loose skin folds over like paper or wrinkles in cloth if there is no fat underneth. If it isn't overly excessive build MUSCLE to fill in the excess skin. Surgery should be a VERY last resort.

It's going to be a lot cheaper to build muscle and your gonna look better.

I'm posting this picture again for the billionth time.

Derek

[ironlung]

Originally posted by DeezGst
People mistake fat for loose skin far to often.

How true that is, everyone wants a quick fix or immediate solution. Great pic illustrating your point Derek.

[buffmama33]

Don't do it! Just wait, you'll be there fast if you're only 11.4% now!

[atticus_a]

I have.

First, like everyone on the board i would say wait. I don't know how overweight you were. I would make sure your body fat is pretty low and that you have no problem keeping it. It might be extra fat and not skin. I originally went from 252+ to 132 that is a significant weight loss considering I care the majority of my weight in my stomach and I am 5'8''. I have been moving up the lean mass since than. Some people can lose a lot and never have a problem. I did.

i kept mine under 8% for about 3 years before I decided that it was probably extra skin and not fat. I never go above 8% now. (I am waiting to do another water test in about a month to make sure that I dont' ahve to change my diet because now i don't let myself get above 8. my last one was 7.3% but that was about a month ago.). Your doctor will tell you not to gain any significant amount of weight post surgery so make sure you are good at weight maintanence. Also, make sure you ab muscle are strong before hand or otherwise they will re-staple you ab wall and that will make a painful surgery even more so.

I didn't get the tommy tuck. i got the belt line leptomy. which is a tommy tuck plus the back as well. So i was cut all the way around. cut me up to my ribs in both the front and in the back and hacked the skin off and than stapled me together. the average extra skin removal was 11 cm. that is roughly 4 inchs of extra flesh that just sort hung down talk about ruining my abs. it was pretty bad.

I didn't bust my ass to look like so saggy. You can tell if you have extra skin because is pretty thin. it is like when you over inflate a balloon. it will literal sag and it wrinkle too. look at the picture above. thank god mine was never that bad. but I could roll it over my finger. the abs are the only place that you can't gain that much muscle to fill it out.

If you want to see pictures of the scars (which if you do it you will ahve a pretty nasty on--even a good surgeon will if you have to go for the beltline one. the tommy tuck one isn't that bad though). If you want to see them pm me. I will see if I have them floating around. I don't have any of the belly before hand. I burned them but I have the after.

I will not BS you. That surgery is pretty hardcore. Also, you will probably have that small pocket of fat over the scar like when woman get sea sections. I could tell you all about my blood pockets that repuctured. The numbness and other side effects if you want.

I am ambivalent as to whether I would do it again. somedays, the answer is yes. Somedays it is no. But mostly yes.

does that help at all.

[Tonyrome]

I had a tummy tuck and a chest job in 1988 ( i was up to 285 at 5"6 and lost over a 100 lbs) had it done when i was 33 ...best thing i ever did..ive been up and down 50lbs from 180 to 230 since and it always bounces back nice, (at 180 I have a 33 waste which is small enough for me ha ha)......Anyone that really needs it done 1st its a major operation, (mine was like 8 hours) so get a good board certified DR. and go for it . ur layed upp for lite duty for 8 weeks at least not to stress the scar area ..it takes a longtime it heal and the area cut is numb for years it dont really hurt I went through a lot during and after the operation but id do it all over again then to be like i was before the operation

[Man_of_Men]

I can safely say that for 90% of those who claim to have a loose skin problem actually just have flabs of fat. This is excluding people who have been pregnant.

I know a few people who have lost a lot of weight, not necessarly fat. So although they may have lost 85 lbs, they still look crappy.

Why?

Because most of what they lost during there days of starving themselves and/or simply losing weight too fast was MUSCLE.

There fat remains, but it is flabby because it is no longer supported by the same amount of muscle as before.

So they freak out, and as is typical by a countless number of people on this board, claim they have loose skin.

Losing fat is HARD and it takes TIME.

Lose FAT and minimize MUSCLE lose and you should be fine.

Look through the threads and get on a healthy diet and weight training, cardio program. Get educated.

[atticus_a]

Originally posted by Man_of_Men
I can safely say that for 90% of those who claim to have a loose skin problem actually just have flabs of fat. This is excluding people who have been pregnant.

I know a few people who have lost a lot of weight, not necessarly fat. So although they may have lost 85 lbs, they still look crappy.

Why?

Because most of what they lost during there days of starving themselves and/or simply losing weight too fast was MUSCLE.

There fat remains, but it is flabby because it is no longer supported by the same amount of muscle as before.

So they freak out, and as is typical by a countless number of people on this board, claim they have loose skin.

Losing fat is HARD and it takes TIME.

Lose FAT and minimize MUSCLE lose and you should be fine.

Look through the threads and get on a healthy diet and weight training, cardio program. Get educated.

I do not know if the 90% number is true. But I would generally agree that rapid significant weight loss is both fat and muscle.

Some people look crappy when they lose 85 that is true because they lose so much of both muscle and fat. But I also know that for some people the loss of 85lbs can give them extra skin.

I noticed that you talked about woman that got pregnent and than givening birth having extra skin. That is true a lot do get it from that. But woman are far less than man to have elasticity damage to there skin due to the fact that they are made to get pregnent. There bodies are supposed to change in a short amount of time.

I know from my experience my weight was centered around my belly. I know a lot of people that it does that for. I would assume that a man those stomach is stretched way out would have as much extra skin as a woman perhaps even more so.

But as I said before, skin elasticity is an extremely individualistic area that depends on many variables, thinness, moisture, hydration, type, etc. So it is pretty variable. On one person the skin can be damaged at being 85 pounds of loss when anothers wouldn't. The damage to the skin is not linear either. You may have some damage at 60 pounds of fat lose. But much more if you had to lose 70 pounds. If I recall properly, what happens to skin is it gets stretched out and if you keep adding fat you start stretching it and then the damage begins. Going back to my balloon example. Say you blow into the blown. You can let the air out and there is little to no damage. But when you blow into it again there you increase it and what would seem like only a small increase in size permanently changes the balloon. And the bigger the balloon gets the less of the tightness of the original balloon remains.



Most people that lose a lot of weight should well wait because the skin takes time to settle. Spend time building lean muscle mass back under it to support it.

[O_possumSon]

Start drinking a ton of water. Keeping hydrated has alot to do with the health of your skin. I am not sure about all military health centers but BAMC in San Antonio, TX will trim the excess skin for free or a little of nothing for use on severe burn victims. It is something you may be interested in looking into.

[atticus_a]

Skin hydration is difficult. It is the last organ to get hydration when you drink. there are products that you can use that will help but it is a difficult area. That is awesome that they will buy skin. that would definitely mitigate the cost.