Loose / Hanging Skin

[eando]

A very close friend of mine has lost over 100lbs on over a year and his stomach has loose/hanging skin at the bottom. Is there anything one would suggest to tighten this up without surgery? Is it possible?

 

[curvymommy]

A very close friend of mine has lost over 100lbs on over a year and his stomach has loose/hanging skin at the bottom. Is there anything one would suggest to tighten this up without surgery? Is it possible?

Hi there! This is really only my second post on this site ever! I too have lost over 100 pounds since Dec. '04. I've been fighting a little regain with success.

I am an optimist by nature but have to tell you...no, it is not possible to totally shrink skin back like ours.

I know an online person from a weight loss website (obesityhelp.com) who underwent weight loss surgery and then got into the gym and has a rock hard body now covered in loose skin. This is graphic but nessecary to share. In her photos her pecks are beautiful and almost look like breasts alone! But then there is loose, very low hanging skin of her breasts that hangs down and she stuffs her bra with for a really nice rack she says, LOL!

Also, she has tight abs covered in loose skin as well. Her goal, as is mine, is to get her BF down as low as it can healthily go and be in the best shape of her life and THEN undergo her reconstructive surgeries. She will have a belt lipectomy and a breast lift with augmentation and maybe a thigh lift.

This is my goal too, to get rock hard and then have surgery. This way recovery is much easier, the plastic surgeon can do his thang to the best of his ability with out any jiggle to work around, ect.

So, that is a really long answer to a short question. Skin with blown out elasticity can not be brought back to life. Period. Proper undergarments like Spanx for women are my best friend. When I get nekkid...all bets are off and thank God I am in a loving, committed, hot marriage or it would be scary, LOL!

Good luck to your friend and good for them!

Molly

 

[silverstar1025]

Unfortunately not if it's hanging it will not go back. I would imagine all the weight gain really stretched your friend out!! I think the only option is a full tummy tuck.

 

[Gymgurl]

medical help is the only option after that much weight...some skin will tighten up after larger amounts of weight loss....but that is usually to much

 

[drbermant]

A very close friend of mine has lost over 100lbs on over a year and his stomach has loose/hanging skin at the bottom. Is there anything one would suggest to tighten this up without surgery? Is it possible?

Being patient while the loose skin shrinks is better than early surgery for problems that are able to shrink on their own.

Loose Skin After Weight Loss depends on many factors. For some the skin is actually damaged by being stretched out too far. For others, they just have elastic tissue that does not rebound well. A more gradual loss of weight seems much better than rapid weight loss. Shorter periods of distension tend to do better. Pregnancy stretched skin retracts better than someone overweight for years. Young skin shrinks better than older skin.

After weight loss, the skin can take some time to catch up. This can take from 6 months to 18 months.

Check these resources that shows the distortion of loose skin. Check out these photographs of a young woman after massive weight loss. Move your cursor over the small images to see how much loose skin she had. Look at the different views of her lifting the drooping skin before surgery by checking the different tabs on top. The movies on that page show the problem even better than the pictures.

During surgery, she had very little fat remaining after the weight loss. The distortion was skin and lost support.

Other patients going through massive weight loss tighen their skin just fine. Each reacts individually.

Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty can deal with localized loose skin.

More extensive loose skin problems need to consider more global options such as body lift surgery.

Take your time to go beyond the first page for each section. The pictures and movies for each patient really show the problem and surgical sculpture solution.

Here is another patient with folds of loose extra skin after massive weight loss.

Compression garments are an option for those trying to stabilize their tissues during exercise while losing weight or waiting for the skin to stabilize. I have just added a resource about compression vests showing pictures of patients with and without the vests. These results are with no surgery for patients having issues about their body contours, but were not ready for plastic surgery sculpture.

You can see actual examples of Compression Chest Contouring Without Surgery for different types of gynecomastia here:

Compression Contouring After Massive Weight Loss

Garment for Body Builder with Gyno

Garment During Endocrine Stabilization

Body Shaping for Puffy Nipples

Body Shaping Compression Contouring for Overweight Male - This one shows the Black Vest in use.

Body Shaper Compression Garment for Severly Obese Male

Which Color Vest Looks Best?

Vests DO NOT remove the gynecomastia or puffy nipples, but many have told me that they feel much more confident while losing weight, exercising, or awaiting their medical problem to stabilize.

Check out the multiple views for each patient. Clink on the links to see other views of the garment and features of this design I prefer. We have been working with other garments for the stomach, thighs, buttocks but those resources are not yet up on the website.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Tummy Tuck Abdominal Sculpture

 

[curvymommy]

LOL! I just found this post and it was my "second post ever". Now I'm going in for my TT in two days. Wow, odd.