DR. MAZEN ISKANDAR, DR. TIMOTHY KELLY, & DR. WATSON ROYE

What Can You Do About Excess Skin After Weight-Loss Surgery?

Weight-loss surgery can leave you with sagging extra skin. Here’s how you can minimize it.

BY DR. MAZEN ISKANDAR, DR. TIMOTHY KELLY, AND DR. WATSON ROYE, WEIGHT-LOSS SURGEONS AT TEXAS SURGICAL SPECIALISTS

Choosing to have weight-loss surgery can be a smart decision for your health. Losing weight if you need to can help you reduce the risk of many health conditions that might take away from your quality of life and shorten your lifespan. Instead, one thing you may want to think about is how much excess skin you might have after you lose a lot of weight and how you would like to treat it. “Quite a few people will have some excess or hanging skin after their weight loss,” said weight-loss surgeon Mazen Iskandar, MD.

How likely is it that you will have excess skin after weight-loss surgery? A few different factors affect the amount of excess skin you might have:

• How much weight you lose after your surgery—the more weight you lose, the more likely you are to have excess skin • How quickly you lose weight—losing weight more slowly gives your skin time to tighten on its own • How old you are—younger skin is more elastic and more likely to bounce back from stretching • Genetic factors that influence the elasticity of your skin

“Some people don’t mind the excess skin,” said weightloss surgeon Timothy Kelly, MD. “It’s a reminder of their progress.” But other people don’t like the look or feel of it. Sometimes, the excess skin can cause pain, discomfort, chafing, or health problems. How can you minimize excess skin after weight-loss surgery? You can take a few steps as you lose weight to help keep your skin as healthy and elastic as possible.

• Choose your diet carefully, so you lose weight at the right pace—don’t try to lose weight too fast • Eat foods high in protein and vitamins to nourish your skin • Drink plenty of water to keep your body and your skin hydrated • Talk to your health care team about creams that can help moisturize your skin • Consider strength training to build muscle that can How can surgery help reduce excess skin? “We like people to wait 18 months after their surgery before removing excess skin,” said weight-loss surgeon Watson Roye, MD. “By that time, your weight has usually stabilized, and your skin has tightened about as much as it will on its own.” Surgeons can remove the excess skin with a cosmetic procedure. People typically have the excess skin removed on their abdomen, arms, breasts, or neck. If you choose to have surgery to remove excess skin, you can usually go home the day of your procedure. It takes about six weeks to heal from surgery, and several months for the scars to fade. Does insurance pay for surgery to remove excess skin? Every insurance plan is different, and you’ll want to consult with your provider to see what’s covered. Insurance companies often cover this surgery if excess skin is painful or causes rashes, sores, or problems with hygiene. They generally don’t cover surgery for cosmetic reasons.

MY wedding DAY

STORY BY CINDY BURCH

When I was planning my wedding almost twenty years ago, I didn’t know I would end up in the catering business, but just working out all of the details in my own wedding was great training.

I grew up attending First Baptist Church Dallas, one of the largest churches in the country. Covering five city blocks in downtown Dallas and more than 30,000 members, my parents met and married there in 1957. Everything at our church was a major production and I was at the heart of it all. Our 200 member choir had productions as elaborate as any Broadway musical and our orchestra was known to rival the Dallas Symphony. I loved going to the weddings at our church because they were always an affair to remember. Growing up with so much fanfare gave me an appetite for wanting everything I do to be in grand style. When it came time for my own wedding, it was no exception.

I didn’t get married until I was 32 years old, so I had years to dream big. I designed 1000 invitations on beautiful cardstock with gold calligraphy and painstakingly wrapped each one with handmade paper and a gold waxed seal. My wedding dress was made of silk taffeta with hand sewn pearls and beading that covered the bodice and sleeves. Six bridesmaids wore emerald taffeta ball gowns and carried cascading nosegays of solid white flowers. The church’s century old sanctuary, with its magnificent stained glass windows, was filled with candelabras cascading throughout the choir loft holding hundreds of long taper candles. Hurricane lanterns with white roses, gold and white ribbons and trails of asparagus fern lined the end of each pew.

With 800 guests looking on, my dad walked me down the aisle. Trumpets rang out from the balcony and the Dallas Baptist University Choir sang “Standing on Holy Ground”, while four cameras recorded the event from every angle. Dr. W. A. Criswell, who had married my parents thirty five years earlier, officiated the wedding and W. T. Greer brought the house down singing his incredible rendition of The Lord’s Prayer. The celebration continued with a lavish buffet and a five foot tall wedding cake that looked more like a huge porcelain sculpture than multi tiers of confection. There were paella stations and multiple buffets of assorted hors d’ oeuvres interspersed with cascading fruits and cheeses. As we drove away in a white vintage Bentley to the historic Adolphus Hotel my face literally hurt from smiling so long. My husband tends to remember the event as the night he stood for hours in a rented tuxedo and uncomfortable shoes while talking to hundreds of people he didn’t know. I am thankful he endured it all for me. In looking back I now know why I set the bar so high in our catering business.

Over the years I have tried to help my brides have that same feeling when The Doves Nest caters a wedding. From constructing a dance floor over a client’s swimming pool, to covering a backyard with clear tents for a starry night, we have done it all. Whether it’s a small intimate affair with just family, or an elaborate reception where the newlyweds leave the scene by helicopter, I want their big day to be a dream come true, like mine was.

It was a night to remember. If there was ever a time my parents were grateful they only had one child, this was it.