Help Needed Please Pictures Included Maybe Considered Graphic

I need help. I had surgery 11/2004 and to date i lost over 100 pounds Im trying to lose my last 20 because my surgeon does not expect me to get any smaller than that and neither do I because I am what they call big boned but the help i need is with my nasty stomach. I have pcos so I always had a big pooch on my lower stomach but I swear over the past few months it has gotten worse. Click on the links to see the pcitures. I feel worse than I did before I had surgery because at least them it had fat to hod it up. I have to wear a girldle with everything and this just upsets me. I look at my early pictures from after surgery and it was fine but now everything has dropped and I know I still have some fat in there but most of it looks to be excess skin the way it hangs. Please take a look at this picture and tell me if it is normal. I keep going back and forth between a few pounds and with the stomach looking like this it has made my clothes a little tighter. I have started doing abs but do they help for bigger people? My next appt my doctor is going to discuss Plastic surgery which I thought I would never have to have but I see now that I do. I know you guys are follow Weight Loss Surgery members so please help anyway you can because I am getting really depressed over this. These are the two pics I took yesterday: http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos1768/7/24/48/39/58/0/58394824709_0_ALB.jpg http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos1768/7/24/48/39/78/0/78394824709_0_ALB.jpg Please help

I couldn't access the first picture. It gave me an error. I did get the 2nd picture up and then I tried to read your profile. It doesn't say what you are weighing and what your surgeon and your goal is. Are you wanting to lose more weight? Just the 20 pounds and then plastic surgery? I'm a bit confused. It's normal to have excess skin especially in places where you may have carried more weight than in other locations of your body. I think you are the right tract to discuss plastic surgery with your doctor. Get the name of good PS that takes your insurance and go have a consult. A consult is typically free of charge and you will learn a lot of valuable information there! Only YOU can decide these things for yourself. I can tell you that being depressed over the whole body image thing is also perfectly normal. I had a PS consult for my breasts and the doctor was so shocked at how bad they were that I felt like a freak for WEEKS....worse than I ever felt about it before. I knew it was bad but when he responded the way he did, it somehow became more real. I was depressed, mortified, and wore a bra 24.7 for weeks after that. The crazy things we do. I did the breast lift (self-pay as ins. denied me) and it's the BEST thing I've ever done as far as sugeries are concerned (other than WLS). You may want to post on the Plastic Surgery board for more information or check out some of the profile of Caroline Martin and Dame Tooter. They both had huge transformation and plastic surgery. It's amazing to see the before and after photos and there is a lot to be learned. Caroline Martin http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=M1043211376 Dame Tooter http://www.bariatricbytes.com/ Best, ~Vanessa~

I'm sorry but I couldn't get your pictures to show up it read forbidden. Sorry Kay

Girl you look great. . with the loose skin I have heard that if you get a lot rashs that sometimes the insurance will cover the plastic surgery , Hey it wouldnt hurt and you may lose a few more pounds a feel better about yourself . Honestly you look great . . But you have to feel that you do inside So Gonzo

You look normal, normal, normal with the hanging skin. And you may think it looks like fat---but for me I was 161 pounds and had an abdominoplasti 2-14-06 and the doc said it was all skin--I had lost all the fat. Hard to believe with all that stuff hanging. And looking down at it is disgusting. People who see you in clothes could not imaging what is hidden under there. Ughh. If you want me to email you a few preop abdominoplasti pictures just email me at [email protected]. document, document,every bump, rash, slit, sore that you get under the belly. Take pictures and go to the doctor and get it documented. If you get back pain get that documented at the doctors too. I kept a diary of my daily struggles for 4 months. My insurance denied the requestfor the abdominoplasti then after they got the pictures and back xrays results they approved the surgery the same day. Email me if you want.Hang in there.