I know I promised to write a bariatric approved product review.
But first, this that showed up in my suggested Google links.
Girl, what are you thinking? Why are we flopping our fupa all over the Instagram and sharing/errr selling it to The Sun UK? We know that shit is real. (Did she really make a single account for, um, skin?)
For a moment I am tempted to pull out the skin I AM IN -- you know -- IN POST WEIGHT LOSS SOLIDARITY, after losing 170 pounds and having two babies and start a fupa social media campaign.
But, uh, no. It's very, very real. We are quite aware. You don't have to flop it on Insta to prove it to any-one.
It's not uncommon for those of us who have lost massive amounts of weight with bariatric surgery to have major issues with body dysmorphic disorder or problems seeing ourselves the way we really look.
Some post weight loss patients suffer terrible with body dysmorphia -- some to a much lesser degree.
But, could brains actually be different in those who have BDD?
I was at the gym last night when my local news showed this story, which also landed in my Google alerts this morning, which is also ON THE TODAY SHOW right now:
A. surgery. every. ten. minutes.
Dear media - stop. This makes me want to pull out my batwings and flap them around just because.
You do know you don't HAVE TO have plastic surgery, right? It's not a requirement after massive weight loss. Some folks do just fine living with excess skin whether it is due to necessity (insurance, financial, otherwise...) and some people are just fine living in their new bodies and live well OWNING their new selves.
It really is a mindset.
Please don't be sold into Michelle Obama Arms just because she has them. Mrs. Obama doesn't have scars to her elbows after brachioplasty surgery, nor had she lost 150, 200 or more pounds first.
You might want to. I am still on the fence about having plastic surgery. I have been on the fence for nine years. (There's a lot to it. This is not the post. - MM)
New statistics released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) show that arm lifts in women have skyrocketed a staggering 4,378 percent in just over the last decade. It is a trend fueled, in part, by sleeveless fashions for women and more focus on strong-armed celebrities. In 2000, more than 300 women got upper arm lift procedures. Last year, more than 15,000 did.
Upper arm lifts can include liposuction or a surgical procedure known as brachioplasty, in which loose skin is removed from the back of the arms.
"Women are paying more attention to their arms in general and are becoming more aware of options to treat this area," said ASPS President Gregory Evans, MD. "For some women, the arms have always been a troublesome area and, along with proper diet and exercise, liposuction can help refine them. Others may opt for a brachioplasty when there is a fair amount of loose skin present with minimal elasticity."
Doctors say there is no single reason behind the increase, though celebrities from the White House to the red carpet may be having an influence. A recent poll* conducted on behalf of ASPS found that women are paying closer attention to the arms of female celebrities.
According to the poll, women most admire the arms of first lady Michelle Obama, followed closely by Jennifer Aniston. Actresses Jessica Biel and Demi Moore, and daytime TV talk show host Kelly Ripa also got votes for their toned arms.
"I think we are always affected by the people that we see consistently, either on the big screen or on TV," said ASPS Public Education Committee Chair David Reath, MD, based in Knoxville, Tenn. "We see them and think, âyeah, I'd like to look like that'."
That's just what happened to 24-year-old Natalie Robinson of Knoxville, who says she was inspired by the arms of the first lady. "I looked at Michelle Obama and said âOh my gosh, I want her arms.' When I first started losing weight and started to tone up, I had her image in my head."
That was three years ago. Today, Robinson has lost more than 170 pounds and continues an amazing transformation through diet and exercise. But for all the weight she'd lost, Robinson says she still wasn't entirely happy.
"I had a lot of excessive skin around my upper arms," she said. "Every time I looked in the mirror there was a reminder of a heavier person and I just couldn't get rid of it."
That's when Robinson contacted Dr. Reath, who performed her brachioplasty. "Natalie had the perfect arms for this procedure," said Dr. Reath, "but it's not for everybody."
A brachioplasty requires an incision from the elbow to the armpit, generally on the back of the arm, leaving a visible and permanent scar. For Robinson, the scar was much easier to deal with than the excessive skin, but Dr. Reath cautions patients to carefully consider the pros and cons before having an upper arm lift, particularly a brachioplasty.
"It's a trade off. We get rid of the skin, but we leave a scar," he said. "So, as long as there's enough improvement to be made in the shape of the arm to justify the scar, then it's a great procedure."
Dr. Reath stresses the importance of proper diet and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle to all his patients, but says some women simply can't achieve the look they want on their own. Many who simply want to tighten and tone their upper arms, but don't have a lot of excess skin, opt for liposuction instead of a brachioplasty.
"We are genetically programmed to have different accumulations of fat in different areas, and for some women the arms can be a problem area," said Dr. Reath. "The arms are a very noticeable area and if excessive fat and skin are an issue, they tend to look more out of proportion than the rest of the body."
That was certainly the case for Robinson, but not anymore. Robinson says she never expected surgery to make her arms perfect, just more normal. "Well-proportioned is what I was going for, and I'm very happy. It was well worth the investment," she said. "I would do it again."
* This poll was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons from March 28-April 1, 2013 among 1,219 women ages 18 and older. This online poll is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
David B. Sarwer, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania as well as Director of Clinical Services at the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. He received his B.A. in 1990 from Tulane University, his M.A. in 1992 from Loyola University Chicago and his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1995 from Loyola University Chicago.
Clinically, Dr. Sarwer is the Director of the Stunkard Weight Management Program and is actively involved in the Bariatric Surgery Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He conducts behavioral/psychological evaluations of patients prior to surgery. He also treats individuals with eating or other psychological concerns after bariatric surgery. Dr. Sarwer provides psychotherapeutic treatment to persons who have body dysmorphic disorder or other appearance concerns -
Dr. Sarwer needs to immerse himself in our WLS community forever thankyouplease, or not, because we have the BODY DYSEVERYTHING -
Body Image Researcher David Sarwer Debunks Hollywood Myths http://huff.to/RHjGnH
Myth 1: The fatter you are, the worse your body image.
Q. People assume that weight gain and bad body image go hand in hand, and yet, that assumption doesn't reflect the truth. What's the truth about weight gain and body image?
A. There's typically very little relationship between someone's objective appearance and their subjective body image. Individuals who are the most objectively attractive will sometimes have very negative body images, and individuals who are less attractive will sometimes show relatively little body image distress. [That said,] as the American population has gotten heavier, we are perhaps a little more accepting of full-figured body presentations in public. Ten to 15 years ago when we talked about the body image of overweight individuals, the focus was: "Isn't it unfortunate that people who are overweight feel like they need to camouflage their appearance in big, baggy clothing." Now, the discussion has gone 180 degrees in the other direction: "Why are overweight individuals wearing inappropriately form-fitting and revealing clothing?"
Myth 2: Losing weight is the best way to boost body image.
Q. You've written that weight reduction is the most popular form of body image therapy. But is it the best way to boost body image? What do you have to say about that?
A. A number of studies have shown that as individuals lose weight, even very modest amounts of weight, they show improvements in body image. At the same time, a lot of people after weight loss, including the more dramatic weight loss we see with bariatric surgery, still have a good degree of residual body dissatisfaction. There are limitations to how much weight you can physically lose. Perhaps the best way to address this [residual] dissatisfaction is learning how to think and behave differently.
Myth 3: Gastric bypass surgery cures body image woes.
Q. Clearly, bariatric surgery decreases weight-related health problems, but what about body-image woes? Is it reasonable to expect gastric bypass, among other surgical weight-loss procedures, to boost body image?
A. With all bariatric surgery procedures (gastric bypass, the sleeve, the banding procedure), the average weight loss is somewhere between 25 and 35 percent of an individual's initial body weight. Individuals typically reach those weight losses within the first 18 to 24 months after of surgery. With those weight losses, there are typically significant improvements in things like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease within the first year or two after surgery. But before patients reach the largest percentage of weight loss, they report significant improvements in body image. As patients are losing weight within the first three to six months after surgery, they report significant improvements in body image. The caveat: after they've lost weight, some patients complain about the loose, hanging skin. That's probably a big reason why more than 50,000 Americans every year turn to plastic surgery after massive weight loss.
Myth 4: Liposuction, tummy tucks and other shape-altering surgeries transform body image.
Q. The hope is that liposuction, tummy tucks and other shape-altering surgeries will transform body image, but is this hope well-founded? Do these popular procedures actually boost body image, or do they leave people feeling just as bad, if not worse?
A. After cosmetic surgical procedures, patients do experience improvements in body image.[1] The primary catalyst for a cosmetic procedure is dissatisfaction with a part of their appearance -- with their nose in the case of rhinoplasty, their love handles in the case of liposuction, or their breasts in the case of breast augmentation. After surgery, the vast majority report improvements in their physical appearance and their body image. In some cases, however, patients may be dissatisfied because of complications or scarring. In other cases, it may be they had unrealistic expectations about what the surgery was going to do. Somewhere between 5 and 15 percent of patients suffer from body dysmorphic disorder. They're preoccupied with a relatively slight defect in their appearance. Those patients typically don't report improvements in their body image after undergoing cosmetic surgery.
Myth 5: Breast implants boost body image.
Q. One of the most surprising things I've learned from your writing is that there's an increased suicide risk among women who get breast implants for cosmetic purposes. I know you're not saying the surgery causes suicide, but what have you concluded about body image and breast implants?
A. Seven studies throughout the world have shown an increased rate of suicide two to three times greater among women who have undergone cosmetic breast augmentation. (These studies were looking at women who get breast implants for cosmetic purposes, not for cancer.) The reasons are not particularly well-articulated, but it's likely that these women have preexisting [mental illness] that is not picked up by the plastic surgeon or not even recognized by the patient herself. One of the strongest predictors of a subsequent suicide is a history of psychiatric hospitalization. These women already have a history of significant mental illness that is returning some time within years after the cosmetic procedure.
Jean Fain is a Harvard Medical School-affiliated psychotherapist specializing in eating issues, and the author of "The Self-Compassion Diet." For more information, see www.jeanfain.com.
How do you go from not paying your taxes, failure to ship orders since 2011, closing your store, foreclosure, shutting down all communication to... THIS?
My husband's plastic surgeon (and mother in law... whom has a million photographs of her broken plastics in his book...) has given up his medical license. I didn't catch this article when it was published in December 2011 -- it just popped up as I noticed a bump in Google Searches for his name coming to my blog. The posts aren't easy to find, it's a long trail of stories.
Dr. Loren J. Borud, a plastic surgeon, and Dr. Abdul Cader Asmal, cqan internist, resigned their medical licenses today, said the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. Resignation is a disciplinary action.
The board had previously suspended Borudâs license after he allegedly performed two operations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in June 2008 while impaired and appeared to fall asleep during a patientâs liposuction. One of the patients, Michael K. Hicks of Quincy, eventually sued Borud, saying he suffered pain and complications after liposuction surgery and repair of a scar on his chest.
WAKEFIELD: At its meeting today the state Board of Registration in Medicine took disciplinary action against the medical licenses of Loren J. Borud, M.D. and Abdul Cader Asmal, M.D.
In both cases the Board accepted the resignations of the medical licenses of Dr. Borud and Dr. Asmal.
Resignation is a disciplinary action that permanently removes a physician from practice.
Dr. Borud is a 1990 graduate of Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in Plastic Surgery and Surgery, and has been licensed in Massachusetts since 2000.
Dr. Asmal is a 1963 graduate of the University of London Faculty of Medicine. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and has been licensed in Massachusetts since 1981.
The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine licenses more than 40,000 physicians, osteopaths and acupuncturists. The Board was created in 1894 to protect the public health and safety by setting standards for the practice of medicine and ensuring that doctors who practice in the Commonwealth are appropriately qualified and competent. The Board investigates complaints, holds hearings and determines sanctions. More information is available at www.mass.gov/massmedboard.
How far would you go for plastic surgery? Would you sell your house and use the profits for plastic surgery? Um. I'd totally Vanna White a sign, wearing bodyshapers, holding my skin in? LOL.
Think about it for a minute. Have you already had your weight loss surgery -- and been living in your excess skin a while? A long while? Part of the reason I started writing about my journey in the dark ages, was in a meager attempt to earn money towards plastic surgery. Honest.
In 2005 I visited a plastic surgeon, and was given an "estimate" for the whole enchilada. For breast, arms, full lower body...
$50,000.
I knew that there was no way I would get insurance coverage for parts or all of the procedures. Fast forward a little while, a bariatric/general surgeon offered to do a basic panniculectomy for me, for a Cash Price of $3000 if I could go ahead and get it scheduled, couldyougoaheadandgetitscheduledplease?
No. I didn't want that, nor did I have the cash set aside to do such a thing. I knew that I'd be financing my ass. Literally. I sort of gave up on the idea for a while, and when I was ready again to start the process, my body said "No." I actually GOT insurance coverage for a panniculectomy, and was visiting my plastic surgeon pre-operatively in January 2008 and ironically had a grand mal seizure in his office. I woke up in his hospital's Neurology Unit looking for my tummy tuck and "new boobs." It didn't exactly get done.
Since then, plastics have been out of the equation, since my brain has been more important. I do wonder if I will follow through with the procedures someday. But still, it's the price-tag.
$50,000 give or take. Even if I break it down into several operations (necessity) I can't afford to finance my ass. I am basically credit-free. I live cash-only, and the only credit I have it what goes into my Paypal account, so it's pre-paid money.
Would I sell MY house for plastics? Um. Heck, if there were enough equity IN the house to squeeze out an extra $50,000 for lifting, tightening and squeezing the skin I've been in for seven years? Yes, but the hell if I didn't feel guilt, and I would probably back out, and consider that money better used in fifty other ways.
It's not an option right now, but I would give it thought. But, if it meant putting my family of six into a mobile home (like in the below article) no. My skin can wait. We have bigger things to deal with right now (And having felt what it's like squishing six of us into this apartment, uh, no...) my skin is not THAT big of a deal. I have lived seven and a half years since weight loss surgery in this body, I'll live. I'm not that big. There are thousands of women who have much bigger skin issues to deal with, and I am grateful that I only lost 170 pounds, if that makes sense.
Ironically, the procedures were not weight loss procedures -- in fact, Fenney had already lost about 150 pounds on her own. But the dramatic drop left her with excess skin and a sagging upper body in need of a serious lift.
A $47,700 lift, it turns out. Fenney signed herself up for a a "full body lift," an armlift, a breast lift and a thigh lift, which added up to nearly $50K.
So Fenney sold her three-bedroom house plus her TV, her dryer and her bed to fund the surgery extravaganza.
She now lives in a mobile home, but told the Daily Mail, "Feeling great is worth ten houses." And her body does look drastically different, as you can see in photos published by the Mail.
This grabbed my attention -- "Body contouring rare after weight loss surgery" -- WHAT? No way.
How many of us have actually gone through body contouring since losing weight?
How many want to have plastics, but haven't due to various reasons including cost?
The second demographic includes me -- I would have jumped into plastics pretty immediately after losing weight had I the finances at the time. Later, it became a health issue, I've delayed the process to deal with other more pressing matters. (I stopped the process of reconstructive surgery pretty last minute due having a grand mal seizure for the first time in front of my plastic surgeon. Coincidence.)
I wonder sometimes if I will ever get the opportunity to have this excess skin removed, and I am sure thousands of us are out there.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients rarely have excess skin removed after weight loss surgery, although it can be a bother for people who've shed a lot of pounds, a new poll suggests.
Plastic surgeons said patients either don't know about this extra surgery, called body contouring, or simply can't afford it.
Yet it's more than just a cosmetic procedure, said Dr. Jason Spector, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) in Denver this week.
"It is surgery that improves patients' quality of life," Spector, of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, told Reuters Health.
The excess skin that is left after severe weight loss can get in the way of exercising, interfere with patients' ability to wear clothes properly and cause rashes and serious infections.
Spector said weight loss surgery, also called bariatric surgery, is "just the first step" for patients.
"In order to complete the journey, patients really do need to undergo the appropriate post-bariatric body contouring. Even though that has a slightly cosmetic ring to it, it's certainly something that we, as plastic surgeons, would consider reconstructive," he explained.
Body contouring after weight loss surgery is akin to breast reconstruction after mastectomy, a procedure which is now mandated by law in New York State and paid for by insurance companies.
To get a sense of how many patients were actually going on to have body contouring surgery, Spector and his team mailed a survey to 1,158 patients whose operations were done by two surgeons between 2003 and 2011. They received 284 responses.
Only a quarter of the patients said they discussed body contouring with their surgeon around the time of the operation, with about 12 percent actually undergoing the procedure.
"This was strikingly low," Spector said.
The most frequent reasons for not having body contouring were expense and lack of awareness of the procedure. Nearly 40 percent of the patients said they might have chosen differently if they had received more information.
According to Healthcare Blue Book, a consumer guide to healthcare costs, body contouring comes with a price tag of about $13,000.
The flabby excess skin can pose a very real danger, Spector said. He described a patient whose overhanging skin was caught underneath the electronically controlled seat of her car as she was adjusting it.
"A large piece of skin was ripped off and caused a big open wound and subsequent infection. Up to that point, her insurance company had told her, 'Sorry, you can't have the surgery. You don't need it.' So we're not talking small bits here."
Dr. Malcolm Z. Roth, from Albany Medical Center and the newly-elected president of the ASPS, welcomed the new findings.
"It was painfully obvious to me as a plastic surgeon practicing in the community that this was an issue," he told Reuters Health. "It's good to finally have some data."
Roth added that patients need to consider that having weight loss surgery is not the end of their journey.
"Patients need to realize it's not just a slam dunk. When they lose the weight, at the end of the rainbow, there may not be a pot of gold. It may be that they have another rainbow to navigate to get to the pot of gold, and it may take several operations to take care of the excess skin on the abdomen, thighs, arms, breasts, face and neck. We would hope that bariatric surgeons would present this information to patients, but we also want patients to become educated, themselves."
When Carrie Hanenberger gets dressed, she pulls and tugs at her flesh, folding it over and tucking
the loose skin into her clothing.
âI just want to wear pants that fit,â she sighs. âI've worked so hard.â It's been two years since the 29-year-old had gastric bypass surgery, and she barely resembles the woman she once was. Her face, once round, now has strong, chiseled bones. Her figure is now slender, no longer husky. Overall, the Yucca Valley woman has lost 279 pounds, bringing her down to a sleeker, fitter 189. Still, this is not the body she wants.
This size 16 woman would actually be a size 10 or 12 if it wasn't for all the excess flesh that hangs on her upper arms and around her abdomen. Hanenberger carries about 40 pounds on her frame in skin alone. âI feel like a melting candle,â she says.
Hanenberger is self-conscious about the excess skin. However, the procedure to remove it is potentially dangerous and expensive.
Hanenberger consulted with five plastic surgeons, and the lowest estimate was $85,000. âI can still get around and move, but it's difficult. The skin gets in the way. It's cumbersome,â she says. âPeople kept telling me that I'm young, it'll snap right back. But that wasn't the case.â
I am going to refrain from most commentary, because, well, you know the story. BUT HOLY SHIT, $5 million in damages from botched breast implant surgery?
This is a frequently asked question, but unfortunately it is not an
easy question to answer. There are a variety of factors that make it
near impossible to know for sure how your body will react, but weâve
put together a list of informative tips to help you better understand
what to expect after weight loss surgery.
Common issues that can lead to loose skin after weight loss surgery.
Increasing age decreases the elastic stretch of the skin, so older
patients are less likely to have their skin shrink back with weight
loss than younger people.
Smokersâ skin is dramatically less elastic so they, too, are more likely to have loose skin after weight loss.
Women who have dramatic stretch marks after pregnancy also are more
prone to loose skin, especially on the abdomen, given that the skin
there has already been over-stretched.
Me? I was very young when I had weight loss surgery, but I also had three babies previous TO losing the excess weight, AND I was a relatively small pre-op, too. The day of surgery, I was 298 pounds, at 24 years old, you wouldn't think my excess would be "that bad." HA. My face and neck fared well. The rest? Not so. I have a good amount of excess skin on my torso, thighs and upper arms, enough to warrant plastic surgery. I haven't had any, but that's not because I don't want it - it's because I ran into health issues about three weeks before my first surgery was to be done.
Mr. MM was young also, was 370 lbs and got down to about 175 lbs, and had enough skin on his torso and thighs that made him run! to the surgeon. He was horrified because he couldn't find his junk in the skin. Truth.
Mr. MM's mom was heavier still, got down to OMGTINY and has had EVERYTHING removed or fixed, she started in her 50's, however, and had oodles of excess skin. Oodles of plastics as well, and oodles of problems.
Each post-ops excess skin will vary, some people just get super lucky, usually super lucky in one area! Like, Mr.? HIS UPPER ARMS ARE TINY, hardly a bit of excess, and I could fly if I catch wind with my upper arms.
She's had a million kids, I've had four. But, I would kill to ever get a semi-toned appearance. LOL. Maybe if I were pulling in 25-50K an episode of J + K + 8!. ;) Source: http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2009/06/vote_is_kate_gosselins_bod_wor.php
