Support Group

Went to my first bariatric support group meeting last night.  I was totally expecting a room full of people sitting in a circle and talking about what struggles they are having.  Nope- this was a totally different thing. Turns out the "support group" is actually just an informational meeting and there is a different guest speaker each month who gives a presentation and then there's a Q & A question.  This month's presenter was a plastic surgeon (Dr. Long's website) who talked about surgical skin removal options after "massive" weight loss.  Here's what I learned:

1. Insurance companies don't care if you have tons of extra skin that looks and feels gross- there's almost no chance they will cover surgery for skin removal unless you are getting very severe infections and rashes that will not respond to other treatments. 
2. Recovery from plastic surgery can be very painful, especially from tummy tucks since it involves tightening the muscles as well as removing skin and fat.  
3. There's no way to predict whether your excess skin following weight loss will be mild or severe and there's basically nothing you can do about it.  It's a mystery combo of genetics, age, degree of obesity, and luck.  
4. Plastic surgery is expensive!  The doc wasn't exactly sure of his rates but it sounded like patients who want to address multiple body parts (like tummy tuck and breast list) pay $20,000+.  Many patients go back for more surgery later on.  There was a short testimonial from a sweet older woman who lost 115 pounds and had her "bat wings" removed and a breast lift, then a year later got a tummy tuck. I must say she looked great.  

I am going to try not to worry about how loose and hangy my skin might get- I've lost a lot of weight before and I didn't have a major problem with excess skin so hopefully I won't this time around either.