There are many things to think about if you are considering weight loss surgery. One question that often comes up during consultations with patients is excess or loose skin. Will they have excess skin after losing a significant amount of weight, and how bad will it be? Will it make them look older?

After weight loss surgery, many patients do lose so much weight that they end up with loose or sagging skin. Why is this? When you gain weight, your skin expands around the new mass that your body is adding. When you lose weight, your skin may not have enough elasticity to shrink back down.

While this can be an issue for some, there are solutions and things to know to hopefully relieve any fears you may have about excess skin after weight loss surgery.

Problems with excess skin after weight loss surgery

When it comes to how much excess skin you will have, each person is different. The amount of loose skin you’ll have after weight loss surgery depends on some factors outside of your control, like your weight, age, smoking history, and your genetics. To what extent excess skin bothers you varies as well. It’s totally normal for it to be a big issue for some, while others aren’t bothered by it much at all. A common concern is that saggy skin increases the appearance of premature aging.

However, the problems that arise from excess skin are not always simply cosmetic. Excess skin may cause chafing and rashes, especially when it rubs against other folds of skin or when it stays moist. With saggy skin, folds often rub against themselves, and these folds may be harder to keep clean. Over time, the top layer of your skin (epidermis) tears, and this creates irritation from chafing. This chafing can pave the way for infections. Wearing clothing that’s not as likely to chafe can help.

Addressing excess skin after weight loss surgery

If you’re worried about loose skin after weight loss surgery, whether for health reasons or because you’re concerned about how it may look, it’s important to know that there are several ways to minimize sagging skin after surgery. Here are some of the basics:

• Eat a balanced diet with plenty of vitamins — A balanced diet with plenty of protein and vitamins can help you keep the weight off and retain lean muscle. This diet may help to some degree to minimize loose or excess skin. Also, be sure to drink plenty of water, which will help make your skin healthier and possibly improve elasticity. 
• Exercise — Exercise can prevent loose skin after weight loss surgery. When you lose lean muscle mass, you may increase the looseness of your skin. When you build muscle, you actually fill out your skin more.
• Take care of your skin — Your skin is an organ, and if you want to avoid loose skin after weight loss, taking care of it can help. This includes using sunscreen regularly when outdoors, using moisturizers, and drinking plenty of water to keep your whole body hydrated.
• Cosmetic surgery (if none of the above are enough) — After losing 100 or 150 pounds, it is realistic to expect that you may still have some excess skin. Cosmetic surgery removes excess skin and fat from your body. A tummy tuck after weight loss surgery is one of the more common procedures. If you’re looking at this option, it’s important to go with a reputable plastic surgeon. The American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons is a good place to start, and we will be happy to make a recommendation.

Excess skin is often made worse or better by your overall health and skin health, in particular. If you ignore your skin, diet, and exercise, you may end up with more loose, saggy skin. But if you take care of your skin and your body overall, you can end up with tight skin that will look good even after you lose weight.

If you are concerned about excess skin or have other questions about weight loss surgery, let us know!

At Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery, we are happy to answer all questions you may have about weight loss surgery and the possibility of excess skin that may result in the appearance of premature aging. Visit us today at http://www.bmisurgery.com/ or give us a call to set up a consultation at 205-833-6907. 

It’s summertime, and for many, this typically means vacations to various destinations. This shouldn’t be any less possible for those who have had weight loss surgery. 

The type of vacation you take might depend somewhat on where you are in the recovery process. A more restful trip might be appropriate if you’ve had surgery recently, while those who are several months or years out from surgery may be ready for a much more active option.  

How to have a healthy vacation

Being able to go on vacation is part of what weight loss surgery is all about! It can help you get to a place where you can be more active and enjoy life to the fullest. This is our hope for all of our patients, and we want you to enjoy your trip without stress or anxiety, especially over what you will be able to eat. 

Here are a few tips to help you enjoy your time away while also sticking to your healthy lifestyle. 

1. Consider where you will go carefully. While it might be restful, a cruise and their notorious buffets might not be the best choice for someone who has recently had weight loss surgery.. Instead, a tropical location where there will be plenty of opportunities for outside activity and healthy fresh fruits and vegetables might be better. 
2. Research ahead of time. There are many things you can do to prepare. Research dining options at your hotel; look up other dining options in the area; find out what fruits and vegetables are in season locally; make sure you know if your room has a refrigerator or kitchen; plan easy meals and snacks; and look for places where you can shop for healthy food options. 
3. Use what you learn to make a plan. Through your research, maybe you find out that you will have a small kitchen, and there’s a local market close to your resort. Instead of feeling like you should always eat out, plan to prepare a few easy meals yourself. You may also want to plan ahead for having plenty of water and healthy snacks for spending time at the beach or pool and while doing other activities, such as hiking. Do you have a reusable water bottle, and do you have a backpack or bag where you can keep everything? These are the details to think about. 
4. Take along some of your favorite healthy staples. Depending on how far you are traveling, you may be able to pack more food, including perishables, or not much. Staples like raw nuts or tuna packets will probably work for any trip, and if you can take a cooler along with you, fresh fruits, vegetables, and other options may work as well. 
5. Prioritize drinking water. Drinking enough water every day is very important after weight loss surgery, so this is something you cannot relax about too much. You will feel better and find it easier to stick to your healthy habits if you drink enough water each day on vacation and while traveling. Remember that we often recommend that our patients do not drink while eating meals, so plan ahead for that if you can.
6. If appropriate, plan an active trip. If you are far enough along in your recovery, focus your trip on all kinds of activity. This might simply mean exploring your vacation destination on foot as much as possible. Also consider options such as hiking, zip-lining, biking, snorkeling, and much more. Take advantage of the fact that you can do all of these things now!

While planning and research will go a long way, it’s very normal to want to indulge while on vacation, and that’s okay! Prepare for this if possible, but know that you might come across an awesome ice cream shop or an item on a menu that you just can’t resist. This is also a part of living that’s important, and we want you to be able to smartly indulge occasionally. Make sure it’s just that though — an indulgence. Then get back to your healthy habits without guilt or shame. Remember that you know what to do, even on vacation. 

If you desire the opportunity to get healthier so you can vacation again, contact us to learn more about which weight loss surgery option may be best for you.

Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery is a caring group of professionals who specialize in all types of bariatric surgery, including gastric sleeve surgery. Visit us today at http://www.bmisurgery.com/ or give us a call to set up a consultation at 205-833-6907. 

When diet and exercise haven’t worked to help you lose weight, it might be time to consider weight loss surgery. This may be even more important if you have other serious health problems known as comorbidities, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and more.

While this is the more technical explanation of why you might need to have weight loss surgery, we want to focus on some of the more unique and relatable reasons many of our patients made this life-changing decision. We see so many successes, and people are often happy to share their results. 

Read on for some compelling reasons why you might want to consider weight loss surgery based on experiences from our patients. 

Technical reasons for weight loss surgery

First, let’s get a little more technical information out of the way. The weight-loss surgeries we offer at Birmingham Minimally Invasive include gastric sleeve surgery, gastric bypass, and LAP-BAND. Collectively, these types of surgeries are known as bariatric surgery, and they involve making changes to your digestive system.

The overall reason for any bariatric surgery is to help you lose excess weight and reduce your risk of potentially life-threatening weight-related health problems.

Generally speaking, bariatric surgery could be an option if your body mass index (BMI) is 40 or higher (extreme obesity). It may also be an option if your BMI is 35 to 39.9 (obesity), and you have a serious weight-related health problem, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or severe sleep apnea. 

Personal reasons for weight loss surgery

While these technical reasons are extremely important, and you will go through an extensive screening process with us to determine the best option for you, there is often more to the story. 

For example, one of our patients, Lisa, decided to get weight loss surgery for her health:

“I had gradual weight gain year after year, Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnea, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, unpredictable blood sugar, and I was passing out at work. My cardiologist told me that my number one priority was losing weight. He said I had literally taken years off of my life by not eating healthy and exercising.” Lisa had gastric bypass surgery. Her heaviest weight before meeting Dr. Long was 324, but one year after surgery, she weighed 150. Eventually her weight was 134.

Another patient of ours, Tami, decided to get bariatric surgery because she was missing out on her life: 

“Before surgery, I was miserable. I was unable to do certain things with my son. I had trouble breathing. I struggled to get off the sofa and out of bed. I even had trouble tying my shoes. I couldn’t fit on a roller coaster. I couldn’t cross my legs, and I was sweating all the time. I saw my entire family affected by weight-related health issues, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, diabetes, you name it; I could tell it was just a matter of time before the same thing happened to me.” Tami had gastric sleeve surgery and lost over 100 pounds.

Patti has gastric bypass because over the years she had a hard time losing weight.

I was on so many diet plans and even tried diet pills. None of it helped. Nothing seemed to work for me. I would lose maybe 20 pounds, but then eventually gain it back and, after a while, I became frustrated with the whole process.” Four years after surgery, she was able to eat pretty much anything she wanted. She eats smaller portions, but she says she does everything Dr. Long suggests and has stayed successful. 

Natalie was uncomfortable with herself after gaining weight. 

“I stopped wanting to go out and it got to the point where all I did was go to work and come home. Once I realized I was over 200 pounds, I said, ‘Okay that’s it.’” Natalie had gastric sleeve surgery and was able to get back to a comfortable, healthy weight.

Doctor supervised diets didn’t work for Marco.

“ I just felt like all these diets were all wrong for my body makeup. Every diet I tried, it seemed like I would lose some weight, and then it would just pack right back on.” Marco had gastric sleeve surgery, and after surgery, he stuck to what Dr. Long and staff told him to do. He saw the weight come off!

Jessica started considering weight loss surgery because of her knees. 

“It had actually gotten to the point where I could barely walk anymore. My knee surgeon told me the only other thing that could be done was a knee replacement, but, unfortunately, insurance wouldn’t cover it because I was only 40 years old at the time. While my knee surgeon got me on a weight loss plan, I began doing some research of my own. That’s when I did a Google search and came across Dr. Long at Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery.” Jessica had gastric bypass and was able to return to wearing the same size clothes she wore in high school.

As you can see, success looks different for everyone. But the reasons for weight loss surgery look different too. Whatever your reasons are, they are valid, and we would love to discuss them with you.  

BMI

When you think about our practice, do you think of us as “Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery,” or do you call us “BMI”? Many people refer to us simply as BMI, and this is by design. 

While BMI is a shortened name for our practice, including the keywords “minimally invasive,” it also stands for “body mass index.” Body mass index (BMI) is a tool we use to help us make an initial assessment about whether or not a potential patient is a good candidate for weight loss surgery. You can even try an assessment yourself on our website where we have a BMI calculator available. 

So if we choose BMI — short for Birmingham Minimally Invasive and body mass index — as our name, you can bet that it’s important to us. Here’s a little more information about why.

More about body mass index

Body mass index is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. We want to note that BMI is not a diagnostic tool. It is a starting point for us in looking at each person’s individual health. 

BMI basics:

• A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 25
• A person with a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight
• A person with a BMI over 30 is considered obese

In general, the higher your BMI, the higher your risk of developing a range of conditions linked with excess weight. This includes diabetes, arthritis, liver disease, several types of cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea.

According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity and being overweight combined are the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. They estimate that approximately 300,000 deaths each year are due to obesity. 

Typically, the higher the BMI, the worse a patient feels and the more limited they are in having an active lifestyle. When BMI goes down, these factors tend to improve as well.

More about Birmingham Minimally Invasive 

When you have a procedure at Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery, our goal is to make your recovery as quick and painless as possible. We accomplish this by taking a laparoscopic approach. Rather than creating large incisions, our surgeon, Dr. Long, uses minimally invasive techniques that involve small tubes, a video camera, and small surgical instruments. 

Smaller entry points for the surgery make for a faster recovery and a much lower chance of infection. Using traditional “open” techniques, patients frequently see recovery times of six to eight weeks. With minimally invasive techniques, the patient can be back to work in four to seven days.

Minimally invasive benefits:

• Less pain
• Reduced scarring
• Lower risk of infection
• Less blood loss
• Shorter hospital stays
• Quicker return to work
• Less occurrence of post-operative incisional hernias

When it comes to minimally invasive techniques, Dr. Long is the best. He is an award-winning laparoscopic surgeon specifically trained in this approach for bariatric surgery. He has performed thousands of procedures using this technique, helping countless patients across the nation. He performs minimally invasive surgery on an inpatient and outpatient basis. Dr. Long has been performing weight loss surgery since 2002 and has had outstanding results. 

If you are interested in working with Dr. Long to determine your BMI and then go from there to explore the options of gastric sleeve surgery, gastric bypass, LAP-BAND, and more, contact us today.