THE EXCESS SKIN DEBATE
Prior to my skin removal
One of the hotly contested topics of the bariatric world seems to be the excess skin one. I have been told that my excess skin is the stuff of nightmares and hey I get it! It is confronting when someone chooses to share pictures of their unedited self after losing 100 kilos. I have had it all - I have had people tell me to cover up, you look like a burns victim, been told I should probably cover that because it might frighten people and all kinds of other charming comments BUT I continue to share it because it is really important, I think, that we be informed that
excess skin DOES happen to some of us no matter what we do to try and prevent it.
excess skin, in some cases does need to be removed for medical reasons.
excess skin surgery can be extremely expensive and it is important to understand the costs of that!
It is okay to NOT have your excess skin removed. It is okay to have some of it removed and it is also okay to have all of it removed. There is no right and wrong.
My body that is marred by life, covered in stretch marks and still has excess skin tells the story of my victory over obesity. It tells the story that in my family line it stops with me. It tells a story of overcoming SA trauma, religious trauma, binge eating disorder and PTSD and nothing anyone says can EVER take that away from me. My body and your body deserve to take up space in this world no matter how they look. We are here to live 🙂
I have left some before my skin surgery journey pics up here and also some that I took today of my current skin situation - I am happy with my body. It is never going to be perfect. I am always going to have saggy bits and a bum that looks like a shar pei! That’s just life. I have decided to stop where I am at for now. If you haven't read up on my story or you are seeing these pictures for the first time then it may seem really strange that I wouldn't just continue on with having all of the rest of my skin done. I still would need to have my boobs and side boobs done again, a bra line back lift, bum lift and thigh lift. I had massive complications with my first surgery and I am at a huge risk for bleeding if I was to continue on and have more skin surgery on areas that haven't already been operated on. So at the moment I have weighed up the risks and the rewards and I am okay to stay as I am. Cost wise it is out of my budget but even if it wasn't I am not interested in doing any more to myself at the moment. I am okay with me and my half done saggy bits hehe. Dare I say - I even like them!
