46 Years Old, Goodbye Pannus

I just wanted to give an update to anyone following my story. I'm at ten months now since the surgery. I am still keeping the incision taped. I have no idea whether it's doing any good at this point or not, but I did as I said see a Youtube video of a plastic surgeon saying if ones keep the incision taped for 6-12 months afterwards, you will have the best chance at a thin scar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?vgi9xnCVE0fc
My old gallbladder scar from when I was 15 is ugly, wide, and was raised until I had injections of cortisone over 20 years ago, but one of the three shots I had made its own raised and darkly colored scar as you can see.
Around my new odd looking belly button, the skin is colored and raised around 2/3rds of it, only on 1/3 of the skin around it is it not raised. My skin there is very sensitive and I just could not tolerate to keep it covered with the surgical tape. I think if I'd been able to, it would look a lot better.
The skin on the long surgical incision though is not sensitive and I've not had one irritation issue with the surgical paper tape at all.
I will give some tips about that for ones that wish to also keep it taped for the long haul in the hopes of the best possible scar.
I bought a bulk size box of it on amazon.ca, 12 rolls in the box, it's cheaper to do that than buy a roll here and a roll there at your pharmacy. A roll of that seems to last me over a month. It lasts a good 4-5 days before needing to be changed, and that's with daily showering. I always keep my pubic hair shaved anyway, but I'd suggest on the days you change the tape, do it then if you do so there's no growing hair under the tape, it will hurt a lot more if it's being yanked off of skin with hair. Remove it before you shower the day you're going to change it.
Wait a good 4 hours after you get out of the shower for your skin to be totally dry before putting it back on. Try and put it on when you're going to be pretty still for at least two hours afterwards. Before you're going to sit and relax and watch some t.v. for a few hours.
If you put it on and then are moving around, it's just going to start to peel off. Same thing if you think you're going to apply it before bed. All the tossing and turning will make it roll off. When you apply the tape and then just sit fairly still for a few hours, the heat of your body really will bond the glue in the tape to you and you will get a really good seal. I've tried all the different things and am telling you what's worked for me. It's honestly not that big of a deal to keep up with the taping. It only takes maybe 2-3 minutes to apply it once every 4-5 days. I know a year can seem like a long time to keep it up, but if you scar badly, prone to keloids, it's worth it. At worst you've wasted some time and tape, there's no downside to doing it. I'd say in the year, I'd have spent less than $40 on the tape I've used, so it's no huge loss of money. I know how badly I scar, so I wanted to do everything possible to get the best result.
Once the tape is done, I will then begin putting oil on the scar every day when I get out of the shower. I got a bottle of grapeseed oil recently to add a bit to my foundation after seeing some Youtube videos on doing it, I am very impressed with the better results of doing that, so I read about grapeseed oil and found many people use it for scars. So I am going to try it and see if it helps.
I have regained every pound that was cut off of me. They removed twenty three pounds of skin and fat and most of it came back pretty quickly, but you regain it in other areas now that the apron is gone. Most seems to have come back to my upper abdomen area making me look more pregnant shaped. Oh well. My upper arms have also gotten bigger and few lumps and bumps around the hip and upper thigh area. I'd hoped for some on my rear end, since it tends to be a bit flat for a larger girl. Considering in the future I want fat and excess skin removed from my thighs and upper arms, I wonder if that will also reappear in the tummy area once removed, further making me look like I'm about to deliver.
Hey, it's still better than that hanging apron of lard. It seems a set point is pretty hard to change, and even if some is lopped off in one place, your set point is determined to get it back in another spot. As long as that apron doesn't ever return, I can live with it coming back in other locations. Everyone in my family gets smaller as they get older, so there's no reason to think it won't eventually happen to me as well in a few years.

I just wanted to add some more recent pics so you can all see how the scar is coming along. I don't have anyone to help me take pics, so these selfies will have to do, I'm afraid. I'm still keeping up with the paper tape over the scar. I've been trying the Mederma around the belly button to reduce that red outline, but it's not done a darned thing. I will check into how much lasering might cost once it's past the one year mark, since from what I've read it's best to let a scar mature for at least a year before considering that.

Just this morning I was a bit shocked to notice something, as I have healed so beautifully. I mentioned in my last post how I am keeping the scar covered with the paper tape full time until it reaches a year. I noticed a mark on the paper tape above the pubic area and was quite shocked to see it was blood. I felt no pain, and after seeing the scar with no tape on it when I change it, the entire scar had healed perfectly. So I gingerly pulled the bloody spot of tape off, it was about the size of a nickle of blood, and saw the tiny hole in the pic here. I dabbed at it with a kleenex and it bled a bit, so i cleaned it with saline and then put a bandage with antibiotic ointment on it. I had no idea a spot could open up after three months, and in a spot there's been no trouble with, and also a spot of very little skin tension. No clue why.