Hi , I am 36 years old , mam to 3 boys aged 18 , 8 and 6 , I have never had a problem with being overweight , however on my second pregnancy I was left with a lot of loose over stretched skin mostly from and below my belly button , the skin had lots of stretch marks and is very numb in places (presumably from over stretching ) , the third pregnancy I just grew into the loose skin and then looked like a deflated balloon again .
Having wanted this procedure for so many years and reading such a lot of helpful reviews on here , i wanted to share my own experience in the hope I can maybe help others to .
I have decided to go to BMI woodlands in Darlington as it is fairly local to me , I went for my initial consultation where I met my surgeon to be , Mr Jong Kim , the initial consultation cost me £150 so I made sure I went armed with a million and one questions .
I sat down and Mr Kim asked me what it was I was wanting him to do , and what I was wanting him to achieve , he then took a look at my tummy .
This for me was the most embarrassing bit , he made me feel at ease but I'm just very self conscious , he wanted to see if I had any muscle seperation , I was very surprised to find out it was only very slight (2cm) , I used to bloat very easily following my third pregnancy but with doing t25 exercise that seems to be tightening the muscles making the bloating disappear , he said that he does not think I need any stitches in the muscles as I could look a bit odd ( people with a six pack have a slight gap between muscles and to stitch it he said could make it all look like one ) I said to do what he thinks , I have not not got the determination to ever achieve a six pack ! He said he could probably take about 6-7cm of skin off my tummy , unfortunately my tattoo will still be there but I guess I can't have everything ! , he also took some photographs from each angle of my tummy.
I told Mr Kim that I would like my tummy as tight as possible , he told me that he would do it but sometimes if you do it to tight you also pull up the pubic area which can look strange ( I had not very considered that ) !
Anyway I was very happy with what was said , he made me feel at ease , what I did like was that the tummy tuck includes liposuction to the hip area , and no extra charges for anything , wether you need to stay extra days in hospital , other surgery ( dog ears ) or follow ups , cost is £5600.
I have booked my surgery for 17th December , I'm off work for two weeks and so us my husband so I will have lots of help , rather than getting it done earlier and getting myself in a mess and potentially damaging myself .
I have to say that although I'm very excited I'm also very nervous , I have had surgery before for breast Implants and rhinoplasty and both were great and were so worth it - this is what is keeping me going .
I will update more closer to the time , hope this has helped so few people x
Updated on 11 Aug 2015:
As you can see the saggy skin stems from around my tummy button , a lot of the skin around that area is numb and has a lot of stretch marks , the surgeon will be performing a full TT and is hoping to remove 6-7 cm of loose skin .
Updated on 2 Dec 2015:
Ok so today it was if to the hospital for my pre op , I was met by wonderful welcoming nurses , I had blood pressure taking , heart checked with ECG machine , blood taken and height and weight measured , oh also a urine sample test to , everything was fine and I had a tun down of what would happen on the day both before and after the surgery .
My surgery is scheduled for 18.00 hrs on the 17th December 2015 so not long to go now , I'm starting to feel nervous but thankfully the excitement is still more than the nerves so I'm feeling in control ....so far !
I'm going to start planning my hospital bag soon , I know I will be staying in hospital 3-5 nights which I'm happy about , would like to stay in as long as possible so I know I'm in good hands if I have any concerns , will update just before my op ...it's getting very real now !
Updated on 16 Dec 2015:
So on Monday I had a final consultation with my surgeon Mr Kim , he just wanted to look at my tummy a final time and go through any questions I might have , I have been told he can remove quite a lot of skin and is going to try and contour it in to give a better shape , he is not sure if he can do liposuction as he said I do not have much body fat us just loose skin but the machine is there if needed , I came away from the consultation feeling happy and confident he will do a good job !
So my operation is tomorrow , I have to be at the hospital for 17.00hrs and I have my op at approximately 18.00hrs , I gave been told it will last 2.5 - 3 hours , today I feel extremely tearful , I'm so cross at myself for wanting a tummy tuck when my body is not really that bad , wish I could be happy in my own skin but I just can't be , I'm really scared , I will admit I'm scared of the operation but mostly I'm scared of the recovery , having read lots of reviews on here I can see that some people have an ok recovery , others really bad although I'm quite a fit person and active I just don't know how I will take to it , all I know is that I'm perfectly healthy now and tomorrow I'm in for a hell if a tough ride for god knows how long , think thus is just nerves , my head is banging , can't stop crying , feeling very confused , just hope I feel stronger tomorrow , need positive thinking to get me through this !
Updated on 19 Dec 2015:
Arrived at the hospital at 4 and was taken into theatre at 5 , no messing about their ! , had plenty of checks done on me , blood pressure , temp and so on and had procedure explained and my body marked up by the surgeon , I don't even remember being put to sleep which was great , upon waking it was horrendous , I was violently shaking which I could not stop , I was told it was an effect of the anaesthetic wearing off , it only lasted approx 10 mins but that was long enough ! , I had a morphine pump but didn't use much of it , the staff could not have been better and checked and checked my pulse , blood pressure and temp maybe around 20 times during the night , I woke needing to wee but it just would not come out and I ended up feeling faint and fuzzy from sitting and needed oxygen , I was given a catheter to help me pee which was a relief , apparently anaesthetics can stop people peeing !
Surprisingly I have had very little pain in fact the worst bit is I seem to have developed wind , again this is quite common apparently because your stomach us not working as efficiently so I have had peppermint oil capsules which seem to help , in this last hour the wind seems to be going from just burping to moving downwards so I'm hoping for a bit of relief from it .
The one thing that has surprised me was how emotional this is , I know a lot of people told me this but it really is , spent a lot of time crying thinking I have made the biggest mistake ever , it is hoping to be an incredibly long journey .
Mr kim the surgeon told me he has taken 350cc fat by liposuction from each hip and 400g of Loose skin , I asked him to take a pic of what he took out ( I'm weird like that ) it's a huge piece , I will post pics when he sends me them .
My drains apparently have not had much in them and are getting taken out tomorrow , I'm also allowed home tomorrow not sure how I feel about that to be honest , I'm weeing fine by myself , I have had a flannel wash which was nice and have been for very hunched up walks up and down the ward , progress !
Mr kim removed my binder last night , I'm very swollen and look more tube like in my body , no defination at all with swelling but the skin is stretch mark free and smooth which alien to me ! I will keep you all posted !
Updated on 21 Dec 2015:
So yesterday I was allowed home , day 3 , I was really apprehensive but my lack of sleep in a hospital bed was difficult so you can only improve , anyway I managed to climb the house stairs which I didn't expect , managed to use the toilet which us quite low so thought I would struggle and went out for a walk round the block which felt good .
The pain in my lower back is worse than I expected it to be so soon so if anything I'm taking my paracetamol more for back ache , managed to lie down in my own bed relatively easy and was asleep in minutes and had my first real sleep from 9-8.30 ...bliss .
Still have not been able to go to toilet for a number 2 which is a concern , I'm taking lactulose but will step it up a notch with milk of magnesia if I don't gave any results by tomorrow .
I am starting to get very itchy above by buttocks near my hips and feel a bit sore near my incisions , it's the first time I have felt this but I'm guessing it's because I'm healing .
The hardest part of today I would say is not being able to lay or sit comfortably , I just want to curl up in a ball but unfortunately it's a no no , I'm feeling less emotional and more happier in myself , really am noticing daily improvements which I never expected this soon .
Is the op worth it ....the jury is out still I'm afraid , it's a hell of a procedure , a long recovery and a lot of pain to remove what I had ...maybe I will feel different when I see my new tummy , I'm guessing I will , think I'm a bit discouraged because I'm used to being slim but with the binder and the padding under the binder I'm walking around much bigger than I'm used to , I feel like I look huge , when it's all removed and I can feel good in my clothes I'm sure it will be fine !
Updated on 21 Dec 2015:
Not a bad day at all , today I woke and washed my hair and dried it , it wasn't easy but was not to hard , got some make up on , I was just desperate to feel more human , made my sons breakfast and went for a hunched up walk with my husband , I walked 1.4 miles which I didn't think was to bad , I felt fine doing it unfortunately the weather decided to pour down and my nice clean hair ended up plasters to my head in a soggy mess ....typical !
Still no number 2 so bought some milk of magnesia which has worked a bit so will gave some more tomorrow to try and clean me out properly .
Only had 2 paracetamol today and lactulose , the wind that has been giving me grief this last few days has dispersed thank goodness .
Noticed a massive difference from yesterday , incisions do not feel as sore today , still have itchiness around the back of my hips but I'm happy that I can do something , I gate admitting defeat , not going crazy but do wasn't to be active , still wearing the sexy support stockings and can't remove them till I'm mobile properly , I hope that's soon as they are awful ha ha .
I'm off to see my surgeon Mr kim a week on Tuesday and he said he will take the binder off and remove the glue from the incision so I'm really looking forward to that , I have only seen my new tummy for 20 mins , need to see why I have put myself through this ! Xx
Updated on 21 Dec 2015:
Marked up for surgery , my binder was removed for 20 mins , it was less than 24 hours after surgery and I can't remember why it was loosened , my skin was smooth and tight although it was swollen , I looked very tube like obviously no defination whatsoever as expected !
Updated on 26 Dec 2015:
Well it's been 8 days since my op , I have kept my binder on the whole time however I took it off for the first time whilst standing just to flannel wash myself ( been told I can not shower for another 4 days when I go back to get assessed ) , so pleased I did , it looked amazing ! , just the boost I needed , I cried tears of joy for the first time , I was not really that swollen , although I had only just got out if bed , so happy and boosted now !
Updated on 30 Dec 2015:
So today I went to the wound clinic , all went really well ! , the nurse took off my dressings , I was amazed at how good my incision looked , I was expecting it to be red and raised but is wasn't , just some small black blood bits on the cut and that was it ! , my belly button also looked good , I was thrilled to bits when the nurse removed my belly button dressing and said "wow that's one of the best belly buttons I have seen " !!
I have been told that I need to keep a compression garment on for 6 weeks , I'm going to use the hospital one on a night but using a marks and spencer tummy control all in one bodysuit for day time .
I was told I have some swelling but it's not to much , the dressings were taken off and reapplied , I need to go back in a weeks time to get them taken off completely , I'm still not allowed to bath or shower for another week which us a pain but it also minimises risk of infection so I'm more than happy to go along with it !
All in all I'm feeling good in myself , still not stood upright but I'm able to go about my housework pretty much as normal , the nights are still difficult , sleeping on my back us hard , I find I either sleep like a baby or go completely the opposite way , last night I was awake from 3.15am , not used to that as I normally sleep well , that's the only downside at the moment !
Updated on 8 Jan 2016:
So today I am 3 weeks and 1day post op , I have had all my dressings removed and the scar looks absolutely great , much better than I would have expected , it's pink and healthy looking and has healed great all over , in the last 3 days I have managed to stand upright and I am absolutely in love with my new tummy , the difference it has made to my confidence has even surprised me , when I wake in the morning I can see some defination , but even by night I'm hardly swelling which when you think about what has been done us very surprising , I have walked 15 miles in 4 days as I'm desperate to try and keep myself active , and that has had no ill effects on my tummy at all , I have to say that despite all the initial tears and concerns that I had I am so glad I have had this surgery , it actually was only 2 weeks of discomfort and I gave got my dream body , I'm so pleased with my progress , I'm back driving , doing housework , working , looking after kids , in fact the only thing I can't do is exercise , I'm going to wait till my next appt with mr kim to find out when I can start again but I'm in no hurry to rush , I want to do the best by my new tummy !
Updated on 9 Jan 2016:
Asked the surgeon if he would take some pics of what he removed from me ....and here it is !
Updated on 9 Jan 2016:
So these are my latest pics , taken on the afternoon , swelling us a bit more apparent , more so to the incision site which feels extremely hard , my scar is losing the scab and glue and looks healthy underneath , when I wake in the morning my stomach looks amazing , I can actually see a bit of a contour , can't wait for swelling to go , but mega happy with the results !
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