| |
Massive weight loss patient's testimonial
Body Tayloring: Plastic surgery
after weight loss
About Me
I am a 38 year old woman. I own my own business as a computer consultant
working for small boutique hotels. I'm no supermodel in looks, I
have always been the attractive side of average. I have struggled
with my weight my whole life, but it really got out of hand due
to a rare disease I have and I ballooned up to a whopping 365 lbs
at my heaviest. After having a gastric bypass and dieting for 4
years, I have now lost 210 lbs and this is where my journey began.
After losing the weight, I was left with excess skin sagging to
the point that I couldn't do basic things. For example, I could
never ever buy something as simple as a dress. While that might
sound bizarre to you, no dress I could buy would fit me in the arms.
The excess skin made my arms too large to fit into anything. It
was the same story with jackets. Here I had lost all of the weight
down to a size 10/12, yet was still unable to even buy a wedding
dress when I got married.
My stomach had what they call an apron on the bottom, basically
a roll of excess skin that just hung from the bottom of it (which
no amount of exercise would ever fix) making me always have to wear
special extremely uncomfortable tight fitting garments to hold that
in. In the summer time, the skin under that apron of skin would
sweat and rub together and make blisters that were very painful.
The decision to make a change
I don't have a movie star income. I am comfortable but I would never
consider myself rich or well off, so the thought of spending substantial
money on my body never even occurred to me.
I really struggled and considered having the surgery done for over
4 years before even finding out the costs involved. I kept thinking
to myself “Am I vain?” And I came to the realization that
it wasn't about being vain, it was about having the freedom to live
a normal life. I spoke with many friends, and listened to many points
of view. Everyone could see how difficult my life was with the body
I had even after losing all of the weight, and I have to say that
surprisingly every single person I spoke to had positive things
to say to encourage me to take the steps I needed. One day, I was
speaking to a friend about this subject and she looked at me and
said look “Think about it this way, you are investing in your
body. You'd spend that money on a car or a home or other things
that are temporary, but your body you have your entire life. If
you amortize the cost of the surgery over the rest of your life
you will find that it's the best investment you can make… the
investment in yourself!” That was my turning point. It was
the thing that made sense to me.
Choosing the right doctor
Being a computer geek, I decided to do my research with the tool
I knew, the internet. I looked at countless websites, watched countless
newsgroups about plastic surgery and read every single thing I could
get my hands on the subject. I looked at all of the before and after
pictures and dreamed about what I could look like.
I happened to sign up for Dr. Corbin's newsletter in my search.
The thing I kept seeing was one beautiful woman after another …beauty
a normal person could never attain, talking about how Dr. Corbin
did this procedure or that procedure for them and how happy they
were with his work. Well I just couldn't relate their situation
to mine. Then call it what you may, something happened. I noticed
one of the newsletter emails from him which talked about an upcoming
special he was going to do on the Discovery Channel. And the surgery
was the exact one that I was going to have! The only thing was that
I was going to be traveling and was unable to see the show for myself.
I basically forgot about it and went along with my life.
One small note here is that I NEVER watch television. It is not
part of my life at all. However, several weeks later I was visiting
my mother and she had the television on. While she was flipping
through the channels she stopped on the Discovery Channel by chance,
pausing to see the operation. I stood there for a moment and realized
that it was in fact Dr. Corbin on the TV! They did a repeat of the
show. I was immediately glued to the set and watched carefully.
The girl was very similar to me who was having the work done. She
too had lost a great deal of weight and was ready to shed that skin.
I said to my mother in that minute, this is a sign. I need to see
Dr. Corbin!
I made appointments with Dr. Corbin and two other well known plastic
surgeons. I am not the type of person who believes in making snap
decisions with only one quote or option. So I went to all three
surgeons and listened carefully to their plans for me.
I walked into Dr. Corbin's Beverly Hills office and nearly walked
right back out. I was so intimidated by all of the women who were
so beautiful there. I thought, this isn't the place for someone
normal and average. This is for supermodels and movie stars. However,
within moments, I was greeted by his kind professional staff who
put me at ease.
When I met Dr. Corbin I felt a sense of calm wash over me. He's
not the Hollywood type of surgeon you see splashed all over the
TV and movies. He's very down to earth, and he allowed me all the
time I needed to ask every question I could think of. He also impressed
me how thorough he was and how he was concerned about my thinking
and what my expectations were. We even discussed what would happen
if I wasn't satisfied with the outcome in our first meeting. I left
his office, feeling confident and peaceful about choosing him as
the man who would change my life.
I originally asked about having my arms and breast lifted and a
tummy tuck. When I heard the total price it was less than I had
expected it to be. At the same time, I felt doubts about spending
that kind of money on myself. Still, my family and friends all supported
me and encouraged my decision to take the plunge and do it. I wouldn't
think twice about spending it for others.. why not me?
Leading up to surgery number one
Dr. Corbin decided that I needed to have the procedures done in
two stages both for my safety and just for time. Brachioplasty is
an extremely long process with hundreds and hundreds of stitches
involved. So he decided that the first surgery would be both my
arms, and my breasts. Also the Abdominalplasty or tummy tuck I was
going to have wasn't the normal one, it was much more involved as
I had to be cut down the center as well as the normal from hip to
hip.
Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous. I really didn't feel nervous
at all, in fact I kept wishing it would be over with sooner! I couldn't
wait to start my new life!
There were a few embarrassing things like having my before pictures
taken, and being marked up for the surgery, but the staff was so
friendly, efficient and professional that it made it all easy to
handle.
The First Surgery
I arrived at the Brea Surgery Center at 7:30 a.m. I was greeted
and taken into one of the examining rooms. The nurse who came in
to help me was Melody. All I can say about her is WOW. Melody was
so soothing, just like I was a member of her own family. She hugged
me and was so kind. She kept telling me how beautiful I was going
to look when he was done all the way through getting ready. As I
was falling to sleep on the operating table I felt her hand rubbing
my shoulder reassuringly.
The next thing I know, I hear her voice waking me gently telling
me it was all over and how great I did. I felt a little bit queasy
and disoriented, but once I woke, I felt quite alert and anxious
to see what the changes were. Of course I was bandaged, but I was
amazed how little pain was there. I figured it was just the drugs.
Melody chatted to my mother, keeping her calm and reassuring her
with her wonderful soft way until I was strong enough to get up
and go home.
I got home at approximately 8:30 p.m. that night. I had been in
surgery for nearly 9 hours. My mother put me to bed and I went directly
to sleep.
I awoke the next morning with a throbbing in my arms. It wasn't
the horrible pain that I had expected, more like a really really
hard work out and every muscle was sore. I also felt pressure and
tightness. Other than that I was amazed. I again figured it was
the meds still in my body. By that afternoon I was up and moving
around gently but able to fully function for myself. To be honest,
there was zero pain and everyone kept saying how amazing I was doing.
I figured ok… Im in for it the following day. Day 2, and still
no big pain. I didn't even need the pain medication. I got up and
went for a short walk to the store with my Mom. I couldn't believe
it. Day 3 I felt very constricted by the compression bandage that
was on me. It was squeezing me to the point I felt more uncomfortable
from that than my surgery. Each day passed with me feeling stronger
and less discomfort. Before I knew it, my stitches were removed
and I was doing most of my normal daily routine. I made small compensations
for myself to help the healing. By week 2 when I went back to see
Dr. Corbin, my breasts looked so healed none of the staff could
believe it!
Read
another patients story
Click
here to book your complimentary cosmetic consultation
|
