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Bad tummy tuck revised to an excellent extended tummy tuck
In 2009 I had gastric bypass surgery. I lost 140 pounds and have kept the weight off all these years. I was heavily into triathlon and decided to hold off on plastic surgery to pursue my triathlon dreams. After finishing 3 Ironman triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) I decided to take some time off from triathlon and finally start having some procedures to deal with all extra skin after my massive weight loss.
Since I had massive weight loss, I was fortunate enough to have my insurance refer me to a local plastic surgeon. He was a nice, charismatic man. My insurance approved my tummy tuck and I was scheduled for surgery on August 22, 2016. After surgery, this became a bit of a nightmare ordeal. I had a very painful drain placement the surgeon wouldn't help me with. I was more or less told to suck it up. A few days after surgery I had a massive liquefied hematoma, lots of dark red blood coming out of the drain tubes. I had to keep one tube in for almost 4 weeks. After the hematoma completely resolved, 2,200 ccs of dark red blood had come out of my abdomen. Roughly a week later, my incision began puckering. I had noticed the whole time my tummy tuck looked odd, my top half had overlapped my bottom half a lot. All he did was cut and sew skin, and move my belly button, he did not do any liposuction or muscle repair. I was so concerned about the huge hematoma I was just trying to get through one thing at a time. When the puckering was really bad, at the top half looked swollen, I sent my surgeon a picture and he told me to come in right away because it looked like I was full of fluid. I did as he said, when I got to his office he told me it wasn't fluid, but it was fat. He then told me he could lipo it all out for $5000, out of pocket. I was fairly distraught at this point, but something didn't seem right, and my husband agreed with me.
After this I wanted a second opinion. I went to my primary care doctor asking for a referral to see another in-network plastic surgeon. As I was distraught from the ordeal, my husband went with me and advocated for me. I had waited so long after weight loss surgery to have plastics he was heartbroken to see me so upset. I was referred to Dr. Peterson in Topeka.
Went to see Dr. Peterson. My first impression was he was very professional and took his work very seriously. One of his specialties is massive weight loss people, so I felt I was in better hands. Both my husband and I were impressed by him. He agreed that I had a shelf deformity, too much extra skin was left, and my incision was too high. He told me he would do the revision, but I had to wait until I was 6 most post op from the original procedure. He also told me he would be doing a total lower body lift because of all my extra skin, in 2 surgeries. The first one would be an extended tummy tuck with lipo and muscle repair. The second would be butt lift and lateral thigh lift.
We waited to see if our insurance would cover the revision. They had paid for the original botch job, so it was 50/50 if they would pay for the revision. If they denied the revision, we would have looked for avenues of self pay. 3 days before Christmas, I got the gift of insurance approval for my revision. They not only approved the extended tummy tuck, they approved the second procedure which would make it a lower body lift.
The extended tummy tuck was scheduled for February 22nd. Recovery was rough as it was the first time around. Only this time, I have never questioned if my results are going to be good. I'm only 5 weeks out now, but my results already look night and day better than my first procedure. I'm so happy I decided to go through this again. Even with all the pain, it was worth going through the revision.
To finish this lower body lift, my butt list and lateral thigh lift is scheduled for May 11th.
Since I had massive weight loss, I was fortunate enough to have my insurance refer me to a local plastic surgeon. He was a nice, charismatic man. My insurance approved my tummy tuck and I was scheduled for surgery on August 22, 2016. After surgery, this became a bit of a nightmare ordeal. I had a very painful drain placement the surgeon wouldn't help me with. I was more or less told to suck it up. A few days after surgery I had a massive liquefied hematoma, lots of dark red blood coming out of the drain tubes. I had to keep one tube in for almost 4 weeks. After the hematoma completely resolved, 2,200 ccs of dark red blood had come out of my abdomen. Roughly a week later, my incision began puckering. I had noticed the whole time my tummy tuck looked odd, my top half had overlapped my bottom half a lot. All he did was cut and sew skin, and move my belly button, he did not do any liposuction or muscle repair. I was so concerned about the huge hematoma I was just trying to get through one thing at a time. When the puckering was really bad, at the top half looked swollen, I sent my surgeon a picture and he told me to come in right away because it looked like I was full of fluid. I did as he said, when I got to his office he told me it wasn't fluid, but it was fat. He then told me he could lipo it all out for $5000, out of pocket. I was fairly distraught at this point, but something didn't seem right, and my husband agreed with me.
After this I wanted a second opinion. I went to my primary care doctor asking for a referral to see another in-network plastic surgeon. As I was distraught from the ordeal, my husband went with me and advocated for me. I had waited so long after weight loss surgery to have plastics he was heartbroken to see me so upset. I was referred to Dr. Peterson in Topeka.
Went to see Dr. Peterson. My first impression was he was very professional and took his work very seriously. One of his specialties is massive weight loss people, so I felt I was in better hands. Both my husband and I were impressed by him. He agreed that I had a shelf deformity, too much extra skin was left, and my incision was too high. He told me he would do the revision, but I had to wait until I was 6 most post op from the original procedure. He also told me he would be doing a total lower body lift because of all my extra skin, in 2 surgeries. The first one would be an extended tummy tuck with lipo and muscle repair. The second would be butt lift and lateral thigh lift.
We waited to see if our insurance would cover the revision. They had paid for the original botch job, so it was 50/50 if they would pay for the revision. If they denied the revision, we would have looked for avenues of self pay. 3 days before Christmas, I got the gift of insurance approval for my revision. They not only approved the extended tummy tuck, they approved the second procedure which would make it a lower body lift.
The extended tummy tuck was scheduled for February 22nd. Recovery was rough as it was the first time around. Only this time, I have never questioned if my results are going to be good. I'm only 5 weeks out now, but my results already look night and day better than my first procedure. I'm so happy I decided to go through this again. Even with all the pain, it was worth going through the revision.
To finish this lower body lift, my butt list and lateral thigh lift is scheduled for May 11th.
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