Anybody ever have excess skin removed (Page 6)

11,000 page views.  That's alot of page views.

Who is reading this?

I had taken the bulk of the weight off five years earlier.  I don't know why I never thought about the surgery before.  I just got sick of it one day and went for the surgery.  Not really "one day".  While training for a triathlon, I just got sick of all the issues the skin caused.  It's been a big plus in my life.  I wish I had done it sooner.  I guess I had to "earn it" by training and completeing a  sprint tri.

I was back to a desk job with in two weeks or so.  Yes it hurt some but it was workable.  If you have a physical job, you probably could do it, but it might hurt. 

The right chest scar still hurts, but I am okay with that.  What's a little more chronic pain?

I am reading it!

It is very, very interesting and I am so glad you are sharing everything.

I have lost 150lbs since late 2008 and I started this year out with a lot of loose skin. I have been running, biking, swimming and weight training 6 days a week since Feb 1st (just sporadically before that) and I have tightened up almost everywhere. My arms are great and my stomach, while far from perfect, looks the same as, if not better than, many of my peers in the YMCA locker room :-) 

The only two places I haven't noticed a significant difference in are my inner thighs and my breasts...well where my breasts used to be :-) Hopefully another 9 months at my current intensity and level of dedication and I'll see dramatic improvements there as well.

One day I may be in the position/have the desire to do something surgical about those areas and thanks to your detailed journey I will have no problem taking that leap!

If you are stuck might I recommend what worked for me?? change! I find if you mix it up every month then your body stays guessing and keeps melting off the weight. Go low carb for 4 weeks then low fat for 4 weeks then cut out sugar for 4 weeks, etc...for me, I can do ANYTHING for 4 weeks (with a day off every week of course) and as soon as my body adapts to the change I mix it up. I do the same with exercise, I do it 6 days a week but keep changing my routine, I always include bike, run, swim and weight training but in different intensities with a different focus each month.

Good Luck!

15 months out and 15,00 page views later.

I went to the Dr yesterday for a check up on the scars.  The right chest scar still hurts.  He informed me that sometimes nerves get caught up in them and have persistent pain.  He looked at the chest scars and thought they needed revision.  The waistline scar is just fine in the front, but in the back its another story.

I had never really looked at the back side, I always assumed it looked like the front.  Right now, the front waist scar looks like a little white line with a bit of red bordering it.  I can imagine someday it will be near invisible.  The back side looks like someone slapped a red hot poker across my lower back.  It gets comments when I am in the pool.  "Car accident?"  "What happened to your back"  I don't think anything is going to happen to that scar any time soon revision wise.

The chest scars are another matter.  They are lumpy in spots  and also very red.  We knew going in that this would be the challenging area.  He indicated that he wants to do a revision on those at about the two year mark.  At that time he would take care of the right chest scar pain too.

I asked him about some of the excess fat and skin along my Lats area.  I keep losing weight, but that area seems resistant to weight loss.  He indicated that there is a lot more skin there than needs to be, so it tends to hold more fat as well.

I told him I was trying to lose some more weight to see if I could get that part to go away.  He was like "Uhhhhh...I think your thin enough."  Hey When your plastic surgeon says quit losing weight, you must be about 10 pounds from race weight.  "Really, you don't need to lose anymore weight."

Anyway...  the process continues.  I am not really done with it, but the results are still very positive.