Addressing Sagging Skin After a 75-pound Weight Loss

After having been significantly overweight for 30 years, I changed my lifestyle and lost 75 pounds. While this metamorphosis was uplifting for my soul, the mirror revealed what I had not before considered...a slew of imperfections were camouflaged by all those plumping fat cells! After a breast reduction and abdominoplasty to address substantial sagging (thoroughly worth it!), I felt I had to address my face...especially my turkey wattle neck. My procedure included a brow lift, lower blepharoplasty (upper to come later), mid-face and neck lift, along with some lip plumping thrown in there. Additionally, I had a left and right brachioplasty. Finally, I was going to be able to wear something sleeveless without feeling that my exposed batwings were flapping around shamelessly. My surgery took place on a Wednesday with an overnight stay at a local surgical hospital. My plan was to take 2.5 weeks off work and stay out of the gym for a month. In retrospect, if it had been possible, I would have stayed away from the workplace for a month, also...simply because I'm not a big makeup wearer, and covering bruises required a considerable amount of product and artistry. The bruises come with the territory, however, and you deal with it as you will. I consider the type of face lift I had to be a MAJOR occurrence. Combined with brachioplasty it became a double major with a PhD. thrown in. However, I knew this from the beginning, as should anyone considering any kind of surgery that takes a body part and shifts all or part of it from its accustomed place in the universe. I was very aware that I would be stiff, swollen and uncomfortable in the extreme. Comparing the pain/discomfort levels of the two procedures, I found the brachioplasty to be almost pain free. The compression sleeves were VERY tight, however! I researched the procedures extensively, looking at before and after photos, reading medical how-tos, and watching innumerable videos of women broadcasting their day-by-day recoveries. Nevertheless, the first time I looked in the mirror, my first thought was "OMG, what the hell have I done." Not to worry! That thought was an entirely knee-jerk mental hiccup. As the swelling subsided, and the bruises did their rainbow transmutation, I began to see the old "me" in there, along with the capital improvements. There was tenderness and pain, but it was not unbearable and quite beside the point when I considered the outcome. The stitches came out in stages, and by the time I returned to work (remember 2.5 weeks), my suture sites were healed enough, or hidden enough, that they were not on public view. Before surgery, I had shoulder-length hair with no bangs. The most significant change I made to my appearance in order to camouflage was to have bangs cut to hide the endotines in my forehead. These appliances will dissolve over the course of the next six months to a year, and the bangs will grow out. Now, at seven weeks out, while still tender, I'm feeling a significant "letting go" of the tightness in my face and neck and can move about more freely without fear of hurting myself. I'm back with my trainer at the gym, working out at full capacity. As more time passes, I'm confident I will continue to settle more comfortably into my new self. This procedure was, without a doubt, worth every penny, every night of disturbed sleep (sleeping in an upright position is tough), every workout I missed, and even worth bangs.