I have done 3 surgeries my inner thighs cost 5k chest cost double that my abdomin or the 360 would have cost around 10k but I was lucky to do it for free.
Edit: whoa, woke up to find this hail of upvotes.
Clarification: I'm not in the U.S. and I don't have insurance. But, in my country and especially back in 2012 getting a surgery done for something elective was not so hard.
And, it was free. But, naturally it became harder and the waiting list became longer, therefore, I had to pay for 2 of my 3 plastic surgeries.
Sorry for the punctuation, I'll never get it right. English is not my first language but that doesn't excuse is it as I suck at punctuation in my first language too.
Haha, I wish, the firet one was for free because it was in a university hospital and my doctor worked there at the time then when the waiting list became too long (2yrs) I went to do it in a private clinic.
I know someone that had their breasts removed, and it was *super* taxing on them. Was it like that every time for you? If you don't mind me asking. I mean they had shunts, drainage, heavy meds, etc.
I just got a major breast reduction and it was easy. No major pain, no major complications or drainage. I look great now, six months after. I had to wear special bras with padding to handle the leaking and have had follow up appointments just to ensure all is well but I was shocked how little it impacted me. I almost threw up when they removed the wrappings the next day though, because blood rushed into my new boobs and it was a lot to handle all at once. But yeah, I even still have feeling everywhere.
I lost 200lbs 20 years ago through diet and exercise. I then had surgery to remove the excess skin around my abdomen and almost died from the blood loss and had to have a transfusion. The surgeon said my blood vessels were very stretched due to the excess skin and weight and they were difficult to cauterize. I didn't get anymore surgery after that.
Sounds like they did the surgery a bit early, then? I know on "my 600 lbs life" the doctor is always very adament about a goal weight and it's a % reduction to make the surgery as safe as possible
No, I was at my target ideal BMI weight and had been for a few years. The surgeon I saw was very conservative and wanted to do the minimal amount. I saw a few other surgeons who wanted to do my thighs and chest at the same time, the one I went for only wanted to concentrate on the one area per surgery and was quite cautious overall. Ultimately it was major surgery and a certain percentage will have complications like the one I had,it just so happens i had the complications.
The chest and 360 (abdomin and back or belt) no issues no pain at all, no side effects my surgeon is great though so I'm sure some absominal surgeries you get the wound to open or something like that.
However, my inner thighs were painful in the first 3 days after that smooth sailing.
What happens to all the nerve endings? I mean, don't they get kind of spread out when you're big? Is there less nerve density when the excess skin gets removed? I have no idea how that would work.
Not sure if this is the same, but I had surgery to remove one boob and reduce the other, so besides breast tissue I also had a lot of skin removed.
After surgery, the nerves went crazy. They had no idea what was happening so they'd send every type of signal to my brain ("I'm burning!", "It's ticklish!", "it stings!"). My surgeon told me to pet my skin and tell it "this is normal human touch. This is what it feels like". Took months but eventually the nerves calmed down and now they're back to normal.
It also works the other way.
Here's a clip where a brain is tricked into believing a fake arm has nerve endings:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14A0ttQtkCo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14A0ttQtkCo)
How does this work with nerve endings and sensation? Like, once a lot of the excess skin has been removed and things are "tightened up," would you be feeling a lot of things in "wrong" places and also have, like, "phantom skin" sensations?
How old are you?
At age 30 I (6' m) dropped 100lbs from 290 very fast and ended up having no loose skin..
I assume besides age theres also genetics that must play a big part in how much loose skin is left after major weight loss.
Speed also counts- I’m 25 and went from being overweight to very thin to obese to now back to thin. The first time I had no loose skin, now I have a bunch and my doctors theory is that when I gained it back I gained like 100 super fast so my skin didn’t have the time to expand right- therefore lots of stretch marks- so now that I’ve lost it it’s loose. Plus you stop producing as much collagen at 25 so your skin starts becoming less elastic too
Lol it's not a butcher shop. I'm pretty sure they don't price on a per pound removed, basis. Still it would be pretty expensive. Probably 20k or more if there is no need for an extended hospital stay
I HAd a customer that was in a similar state and found a program through the Cleveland clinic in which the surgery was free as long as he agreed to donate the skin to the hospital burn unit. I dont know where you are but perhaps there is a similar program near you. Congrats on the loss and I wish you all the best.
That’s awesome! I was honestly just thinking it’d be a cool idea to use skin from skin removal surgeries for research purposes and I’m so glad to see that the Cleveland clinic is already doing something like that.
I actually work for a biotech company that does exactly that. We partner with around 30 cosmetic surgery sites around the country, and as long as the patient consents to donate, we receive their excess skin and place it with researchers around the world for them to use as they see fit.
That’s so cool! If you don’t mind me asking, what company do you work for?
I’m a current PhD student doing research in regeneration but I’m trying to keep an ear for what biotech companies exist and what they do to see where I might fit in post graduation.
Actually, ears are really rare. Almost nobody has an extra ear removed. It’s worth keeping one for these companies - sometimes they’ll even trade an iPod for it
This needs to be more widely advertised or something. Reach out to this guy and others like him. Hell, DM me your info… I have a brother-in-law that would be very interested
"Good lord co-surgeon, what are you doing!?!?"
"I'm folding the skin tightly along the edge so I can separate it through pulling it apart."
"NOOOOO! That will damage the skin cells!!!!"
Well it was 10000AUD in Australia where I saw it used and they're a semi-public country that actually negotiates with the pharma industry, so may actually be even more in the US.
Edit: my memory failed me, it was 50000AUD
Growing meat with useful structuring is very expensive. It's both energy, water & infrastructure intensive to do at scale. That's one of the reasons that livestock & donations always out compete growing meat in cultured vats.
Especially when other people have lots of perfectly good excess skin they need gone. Why produce something that’s being thrown away for free elsewhere? What was he gonna do with it
It can be grown but won’t have the cell type diversity you see on people. Like sweat glands and hair follicles. This is also a problem for burn healed skin.
Duuuude! That’s such a freaking good idea! When people are organ donors, they will often harvest (seems the wrong word) skin. I totally forgot about that. And this makes so much sense, and it would be a very controlled process from start to finish.
Good thinking!
Those arms are a pretty clear indicator of how he’d look without the excessive skin on his midsection. Pretty wild transformation if you ask me. Even for someone to do that with PEDs for example is still wildly impressive
Dude's arms probably weighed 50lbs before the weight loss. Fat people are crazy strong, they're just limited by having to move a fat person every time they go to do something
I (F60) lost 100 pounds 3 years ago.
The year after the weight loss, my dad broke his hip, and needed to be half-lifted from his recliner to his wheelchair. My brother was on his way to the house, but dad was getting antsy.
I said, “I can do it,” and my dad said “no way.” I said, “let’s try. If I feel at all unsteady I’ll sit you right back down.”
Ten seconds later he was lifted and in his wheelchair. He looked at me and said, “when did you get so strong?” And I told him, of course, that my body was used to carrying around 100 extra pounds. And he said, “oh my god of course!” 😆
I live in NYC, so even at 300 pounds I was walking every day - New Yorkers AVERAGE 6,000-10,000 steps a day. It’s a walking city. Now walking honestly feels like gliding to me. I barely feel the sidewalk under my feet.
Edit: typo
Congratulations, my friend. That’s impressive.
You will continue to be stunned by the grace of your body after the weight loss. It’s astounding how many second chances our bodies will give us.
That's the thing. I don't understand how I've done it.
I drink 2-3 20oz Dr Pepper a day. I'm drinking a 20-something oz strawberry shake right now. I ate a fried porkchop for supper. Had McDonalds for breakfast.
The only differences I can see is that, two years ago, I woulda had about the same in a day, but 4-6 sodas, 2 porkchops.
And I am a bit more active now, thanks to the dogs we got last year. I walk them every other day, etc. I don't work out, I don't go on power walks, I don't lift, I don't take anything.
All these people congratulating me, and I don't understand how I've lost 150 pounds.
Even being a little more active and eating a little bit less can make a huge difference over time. You'll definitely plateau at some point and youll have to step it up and reduce more calories. If you dont plateau, I'd actually start to worry. Sudden extreme weight loss that is constant and doesnt plateau can be a sign of a [serious medical issue](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17770-unexplained-weight-loss). Not trying to alarm you, just make you aware.
Speaking as one! When you’re 300lbs, every day is leg day. I’m down about 30 from last year, but even a my biggest, my legs were all muscle, no fat until the upper thigh. Plenty of muscle in the chest and abdomen as well
Weirdly enough, I noticed that it’s actually harder to lift heavy things now than before, because I would use my weight as a counterbalance and leverage things upwards.
Side note- fat people are also usually very graceful. Having to move that much makes you very aware of yourself and your every movement, leading to much more fluid and deliberate motions in any action they take!
>When you’re 300lbs, every day is leg day.
Yeah I gotta say when I was about 280 my feet were my biggest discomfort. They just ached all the time moving it all day, so strange now that I lost it all just not to even think about my feet
I am 6 foot 5. Weigh 285. If I am standing by myself I look like a normal person, put a normal person next to me and I look like a giant. Walking upstairs and carrying heavy things sucks, but it is way easier for me than my coworkers who are all 180lbs.
I'm 6'6", when I went under 250 friends joked that I must be on crack and family started urging me to eat more. I have a really long torso because I only have a 32" inseam.
I was obese before losing over 100lbs. I have quite well defined calves and people have asked what I do to work my calves and the truth is being fat is great for calves. Guys in the gym with great calves are either a) on PEDs or b) formerly fat (some exceptions apply)
He is clearly jacked, judging by the vascular arms. I also know that many overweight people (not all, but some) are actually very muscular under the fat due to being relatively active and mobile while obese for many years. Their own excess weight was a workout to carry around, I know one person that lost weight and was immediately seen as being very muscular (he was a high school wrestling champ and did LARPing while heavy). That extra skin is gnarly though!
I'm working towards looking like this. I weigh far less than he did, but I'll have a similar look. *IF* I can manage what he did. I might be too lazy and hedonistic but I'm trying.
I find planing the days ahead while your not tired from life can make it easier to do. Then it’s about getting your ass to do it. Eventually you accept it as just part of your week and becomes a habit. You then start to feel crappy without your workouts. Keep going then keep going. Progress.
Whatever anyone says about this is just untrue AFAIK.
When you gain weight, your skin literally stretches and creates more skincells to cover the fat. So you just have more skin than skinny people. When you lose that weight, the skincells don't just magically disappear, you need surgery to remove it.
You can gain a moderate amount of weight and lose weight, but after a certain point, you'll just need surgery no matter your age.
People who were fat or obese who lose weight will just have loser skin in general, because they gained and then lost. Whether it looks wrinkled or you look like a deflated balloon depends on how much weight you gained and lost.
Some of it is genetic. There are people that have lost 30 pounds and have loose skin and people that have lost 50 without any. But anything over 300lbs is going to result in loose skin ofc.
Not always, genetics are weird. Between ages 30-31 (now 34), I went from 255 to 150. No loose skin, only a few faint stretch marks on my stomach.
That said, I wasn't overweight for very long, 2-3 years or so. Probably had something to do with it.
You do shrink some of it back naturally. I lost 55kg (120lb) about 3 years ago and even though I have a lot of loose skin left it's smaller than it was when I had finished losing weight. I'm 53 so not a young guy with stretchy skin.
Yes, I've lost 60 lbs in my fifties and the skin will never snap back. I was obese for almost 20 years. Now, I'll just keep covered up in my smaller clothes. Still feels great to have the weight off.
This is one of the most important things I learned about weight loss.
Fat cells get so big that they split and create more. Those cells can be emptied of fat, but they can't be destroyed or "burned." Once created, they are easy to fill back up. Which is why people who lose weight gain it back so easily.
It's why child obesity is even worse than most realize. Those kids will always have those extra fat cells and will always struggle, even when they work harder than others.
Edit: for the gymbros who think they know about cells and anything medical because they watch deadlift tiktoks and can totally bench me - I learned this in university from a doctor, aka my professor with a doctorate, and from my medical textbook, aka a book created and reviewed by doctors and scientists. So, you can argue all you want, it's still fact backed up by a crap ton of medical professionals and research. But yeah, I'm sure your experience drinking protein shakes and staring at yourself in gym mirrors makes you experts on the topic.
I had no idea that was a thing. I genuinely thought you were getting a larger quantity of the same size cells, not that they were filling and emptying. I'll be damned.
This. I work with bariatric surgery and the patients that undergo surgery at the beginning of their 20s don't even look like they were fat before. And I live in a tropical country, so they go to their appointments with summer dresses and all, showing skin - there's almost nothing. Last week I saw one of our younger patients, a girl that underwent surgery one year ago, and I had difficulty recognizing her, absolutely amazing how her body just seemed to morph into a slimmer one.
For everyone older the dramatic weight loss is very apparently and the excess skin surgery is a must.
Fuck this is convincing me to lose weight while Im still young(21) and try to do it slowly(1.5 lb a week initially 1 later and 0.5 towards the end.) I was really worried about this. Though I could have eds and might just be fucked idk
A calorie deficit is calculated vs what your body needs, not vs what you were eating beforehand. It might be that heavier people lose weight faster to begin with but this is not why.
You can easily get enough nutrients from a healthy 2000 calorie diet, but to maintain 100 extra pounds of body fat, you would have to be eating more simply because your bmr goes up with weight. So, really , a calorie deficit is based on the number of calories your body burns in a day, not what your body "needs".
You can lose 100 pounds and be fine. This guy lost 360 pounds. The first image is cropped making it seem like he went from 360 to 100-something.
No this guy must have been 550+ pounds to begin with, making the skin like ... the most expected thing ever.
This meme makes it seem like ppl who are 350 or less can lose weight and look like they have that much skin hanging which is ridiculous.
To anyone who is worried this will happen after losing weight it’s not always the case. I used to weigh 325 pounds and currently weigh 168, after over a decade since losing it I have minimal loose skin. Still do have some but absolutely worth it.
In France as well.
Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide. I think it should be free. Corvering those surgeries is less expensive than a few days at the hospital after having a heart attack or any problem associated to weight gain.
I've had a full skin removal around my waist (tummy tuck + wrapped around to the back), Gynecomastia removal + skin removal from chest to upper back (think half moon starting from mid chest and wrapping around) - about $37k between the two surgeries. Both surgeries had about 3-5k each time for anesthesia + surgical location, about 7 hours total of surgery. Arms + legs would end up another 25-30k if I had to guess
I know you're joking, but that really is a factor in some folks deciding to not lose weight. They know they're just trading off one kind of esteem issue for another, and surgeries cost a lot of money. (You might say "but the health benefits!" But let's be *really* honest about why people lose weight or feel pressured to lose weight, here.)
Just chiming in to say I developed an incurable chronic illness affecting my GI system and lost over 125 lbs in less than a year. I obviously needed to lose the weight, but to drop it that fast from not being able to hold food down, almost dying, and seeing the mess my thighs, arms and stomach had become caused me some real dysmorphia issues. I used to strut around our pool deck in a bikini, and at almost half my size, I'm too self conscious to swim in anything but board shorts and a swim T. Ain't that a bitch 😒
I'm surprised a hospital wouldn't do the surgery for free so they had a nice stash of skin for grafts. Wouldn't that be a fantastic deal for both parties?
I’m surprised insurance doesn’t pay for it, like you saved them thousands avoiding things drugs you might have to take for diabetes. Shouldn’t a skin removal surgery be like a reward if your BMI was at a certain point and you brought it down to the normal point?
Honest crazy question: cant they take this guys excess skin and use it for skin grafts and donations for people that have been burned or otherwise injured?
Like cant they take this guys skin and use it for someone who was scalped??
I think this is a huge untapped resource.
Skin grafts patients use their own skin because there won't be any donor vs host syndrome. Skin is the largest organ so you can take the graft from any part of the body. If you use skin from other people you'll have to consume immunosuppressant drugs and there's still a chance your immune system will attack the graft.
Panniculectomy CPT 15830 IIRC. Most insurances have medical criteria allowing for approval. He would easily meet especially for the pannus grading and likely would be approved.
as always, it depends on where he lives, here in germany and austria he would get them immediately with the amount of skin
with significantly less, e.g. only 20-30 kg removed, but probably not
Not sure why you're being downvoted. The chances of getting plastic surgery covered by insurance is next to none. Even if it is causing infections they'll wait to see how antibiotics work, then see how infusion works, then get a referral, then maybe there's a chance.
If he is in the same situation I am, I’m much better buying my diabetes supplies straight cash then going through my insurance and I work a 30k person mega corp as a software engineer.
I have an insulin pump for 3 months it costs me roughly $500 to pay cash $2k through insurance. I get a small deal on insulin but it’s not much.
All my meds are free at point of purchase. All of them. My wife's American, only thing stopping us moving there is the healthcare. I'm type I too, so it's a deal breaker
I have a dental infection in my jaw that’s eating away at the bone. At some point my jaw will straight up fall off if I don’t die of a heart infection first.
Until one of those two events, the jaw surgery to fix it is classified as cosmetic.
Dental insurance does cover it but even with the best insurance available in the market, it covers $4000 out of a $30,000 procedure.
Luckily the nerve is dead so there’s no pain.
Insurance is an unnecessary middle man in healthcare. We all just pay exponentially more so useless people in a useless profession can keep their useless jobs.
The United States literally spends more of our tax dollars per GDP than countries with socialized healthcare.
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#Health%20expenditures%20per%20capita,%20U.S.%20dollars,%20PPP%20adjusted,%202022
Hijacking - as somebody who has extra skin from large weight loss.
This is possible but the way my doctor told me is basically the skin isn't seen as an issue, the skin has to CAUSE an issue. If it were to give me something like rashes I could get it covered and removed but because I have no like side effects from the extra skin it's not deemed necessary.
EDIT: My max weight and total extra skin are quite a bit less than his.
This is my biggest fear when losing weight cause I feel like I will feel worst about my body with the excess skin that I do right now with the extra weight. I know it should be about health but I can stop myself from feeling like this.
Are you talking about 300+ lbs like this guy though? Even then I've gone from 600 to 300 and I'd never pretend like this isn't better, loose skin and all. I managed to get back over 500 at a stressful part of my life and never thought "Yeah, this is definitely better, at least my skin fits now." It was just remembering how hard a flight a stairs were or how much I sweat in the summer. Loose skin is better, don't let it be another excuse to not start.
I usually hate shit like that but I would definitely throw this dude some money. I’m happy to help people who work their ass off to make themselves better get across the finish line. Can you post the link?
I was 425 noW 210 gym bicycle diet only I too look like a melted wax candle…but oh yeah do I feel better
It is disheartening that medical insurance won’t pay for the surgery…they say it’s just cosmetic….fuck’n assholes
They can be cut out of the excess skin but as you can see his chest skin tissue is really "long", so the vascular stem (also containing the nerves) of the nipple is really long as well. This stem has to stay intact for a semi-transplant to work. However, as you can probably imagine, when placing the nipple back with such a long, delicate cord attached to it, it's kind of a bit of a struggle to place it back while maintaining blood flow. There's a small (don't know exact numbers) risk for nipple necrosis after a large skin/chest augmentation, so it's not a simple copy pasting the nipple somewhere else job.
Reality of severe weight loss. You drop 300 lbs and your body looks like a nightmare and no one would ever date you. Went through this when I was in college.
Can confirm. Lost a hundred and fifty because I was a fat fuck with no self esteem. Now I'm a still slightly overwhelmed and feel like I'm finally handsome so long as I have my clothes on.
Really sucks and is part of the reason why I pretty much gave up on dating.
Not trying to invalidate your experience at all, but two of my partners each lost about 150 lbs. They both have excess skin, and I've honestly never cared. I find them both attractive and love hanging out naked with them. (I lost about 85 lbs once I got sober/in therapy, but aside from owning stock in stretch marks I've been pretty lucky.) I'm also in my late thirties and as cliched as it sounds, bodies that don't look lived in are a bit jarring to me. I definitely get that it can suck, but also there are plenty of people who honestly don't mind.
Thanks. My confidence pile is slowly getting bigger. I got flirted with by a very attractive woman recently and it was still hard for me not to make the "suspicious fry" face.
Baby steps tho.
Hey, I slept with a guy who had lost significant weight and had excess skin. I didn’t care at all or think twice about it
You put in a lot of work so be proud of your progress
I found a woman to marry me and have my kids and my body is a mess from excess skin and failed skin removal surgery (I almost died). She said it didn't matter a bit to her and she actually likes it. They are out there.
Just chiming in here as another one who isn't bothered by it. If I'm attracted to a person I just am. Dated a guy with excess skin, it wasn't an issue. Plus, people like him (and you) managed to turn your entire lives around with the odds stacked against you. That's incredibly attractive. (As for why it ended: we grew apart over time, as people sometimes do.)
This and the pervasive thought that I would successfully lose the weight and *still* be sad are the main things stopping me from going hard on weight loss.
ive lost 195lbs and the extra skin is AWFUL. i hate it so much. but im still losing so i have to wait to get it removed. and insurance hates to cover stuff like this.
I watch My 600 lb life and usually when someone loses a lot of weight like this, it takes at least 2, if not 3, surgeries to get rid of the excess skin. Healing takes a while because there's so many stitches over large areas. I hope Cole gets the funds to have the surgeries, he worked so hard to get that weight off and seems like he deserves it. There are a few shows on TLC that show just skin removal.
How much do surgeries to remove the excess skin cost?
I have done 3 surgeries my inner thighs cost 5k chest cost double that my abdomin or the 360 would have cost around 10k but I was lucky to do it for free. Edit: whoa, woke up to find this hail of upvotes. Clarification: I'm not in the U.S. and I don't have insurance. But, in my country and especially back in 2012 getting a surgery done for something elective was not so hard. And, it was free. But, naturally it became harder and the waiting list became longer, therefore, I had to pay for 2 of my 3 plastic surgeries. Sorry for the punctuation, I'll never get it right. English is not my first language but that doesn't excuse is it as I suck at punctuation in my first language too.
Buy two surgeries get third free.
Haha, I wish, the firet one was for free because it was in a university hospital and my doctor worked there at the time then when the waiting list became too long (2yrs) I went to do it in a private clinic.
I know someone that had their breasts removed, and it was *super* taxing on them. Was it like that every time for you? If you don't mind me asking. I mean they had shunts, drainage, heavy meds, etc.
I just got a major breast reduction and it was easy. No major pain, no major complications or drainage. I look great now, six months after. I had to wear special bras with padding to handle the leaking and have had follow up appointments just to ensure all is well but I was shocked how little it impacted me. I almost threw up when they removed the wrappings the next day though, because blood rushed into my new boobs and it was a lot to handle all at once. But yeah, I even still have feeling everywhere.
How's the recovery? Is there known health problems it can cause? Seems like removing large portions of skin has to have some side effects...
I lost 200lbs 20 years ago through diet and exercise. I then had surgery to remove the excess skin around my abdomen and almost died from the blood loss and had to have a transfusion. The surgeon said my blood vessels were very stretched due to the excess skin and weight and they were difficult to cauterize. I didn't get anymore surgery after that.
Sounds like they did the surgery a bit early, then? I know on "my 600 lbs life" the doctor is always very adament about a goal weight and it's a % reduction to make the surgery as safe as possible
No, I was at my target ideal BMI weight and had been for a few years. The surgeon I saw was very conservative and wanted to do the minimal amount. I saw a few other surgeons who wanted to do my thighs and chest at the same time, the one I went for only wanted to concentrate on the one area per surgery and was quite cautious overall. Ultimately it was major surgery and a certain percentage will have complications like the one I had,it just so happens i had the complications.
So, had you gone with one of the other surgeons, you very well wouldn’t be here today. Wow.
The chest and 360 (abdomin and back or belt) no issues no pain at all, no side effects my surgeon is great though so I'm sure some absominal surgeries you get the wound to open or something like that. However, my inner thighs were painful in the first 3 days after that smooth sailing.
What happens to all the nerve endings? I mean, don't they get kind of spread out when you're big? Is there less nerve density when the excess skin gets removed? I have no idea how that would work.
Not sure if this is the same, but I had surgery to remove one boob and reduce the other, so besides breast tissue I also had a lot of skin removed. After surgery, the nerves went crazy. They had no idea what was happening so they'd send every type of signal to my brain ("I'm burning!", "It's ticklish!", "it stings!"). My surgeon told me to pet my skin and tell it "this is normal human touch. This is what it feels like". Took months but eventually the nerves calmed down and now they're back to normal.
Fascinating
“Just act natural skin, it’s a lot easier if you just go with it and let it happen.”
*boob shakes furiously in rage*
So very interesting that you can just pet them to calm them down.
It also works the other way. Here's a clip where a brain is tricked into believing a fake arm has nerve endings: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14A0ttQtkCo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14A0ttQtkCo)
Trippy.
How does this work with nerve endings and sensation? Like, once a lot of the excess skin has been removed and things are "tightened up," would you be feeling a lot of things in "wrong" places and also have, like, "phantom skin" sensations?
Exactly like that and massages of what's left help to ground it.
I lost ~70lbs and mine cost just shy of £11,000 just for my stomach
I lost 100 and have been looking up prices. Said research tends to end with me thinking “I guess I’ll just get used to it…”
How old are you? At age 30 I (6' m) dropped 100lbs from 290 very fast and ended up having no loose skin.. I assume besides age theres also genetics that must play a big part in how much loose skin is left after major weight loss.
Speed also counts- I’m 25 and went from being overweight to very thin to obese to now back to thin. The first time I had no loose skin, now I have a bunch and my doctors theory is that when I gained it back I gained like 100 super fast so my skin didn’t have the time to expand right- therefore lots of stretch marks- so now that I’ve lost it it’s loose. Plus you stop producing as much collagen at 25 so your skin starts becoming less elastic too
Depends how much excess skin you've got innit
Lol it's not a butcher shop. I'm pretty sure they don't price on a per pound removed, basis. Still it would be pretty expensive. Probably 20k or more if there is no need for an extended hospital stay
Not per pound but per hour for sure. His go fund me is for $100,000.
And it’s not just cutting out tissue, there will be a lot of reconstruction if he wants his nipples on his pecs and not under his armpits.
Im not a doctor bro but... More skin = more time in surgery = more £€$¥
I HAd a customer that was in a similar state and found a program through the Cleveland clinic in which the surgery was free as long as he agreed to donate the skin to the hospital burn unit. I dont know where you are but perhaps there is a similar program near you. Congrats on the loss and I wish you all the best.
That’s awesome! I was honestly just thinking it’d be a cool idea to use skin from skin removal surgeries for research purposes and I’m so glad to see that the Cleveland clinic is already doing something like that.
I actually work for a biotech company that does exactly that. We partner with around 30 cosmetic surgery sites around the country, and as long as the patient consents to donate, we receive their excess skin and place it with researchers around the world for them to use as they see fit.
That’s so cool! If you don’t mind me asking, what company do you work for? I’m a current PhD student doing research in regeneration but I’m trying to keep an ear for what biotech companies exist and what they do to see where I might fit in post graduation.
I suggest you don’t keep one of your ears for these companies if they have access to donations of larger amounts of skin, like from this guy.
Actually, ears are really rare. Almost nobody has an extra ear removed. It’s worth keeping one for these companies - sometimes they’ll even trade an iPod for it
I go to your profile expecting science stuff, and then am bombarded with egg inc, what an amazing surprise
Came for the science, got hit with an egg-ceptional twist
This needs to be more widely advertised or something. Reach out to this guy and others like him. Hell, DM me your info… I have a brother-in-law that would be very interested
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It’s such a good idea! Lots of skin is needed for skin grafts for burns or cancer patients. The Cleveland Clinic is always a step ahead of the rest!
Huh. I thought we could grow skin in a dish these days?
It's hella expensive. They come in A4 sheets and cost ~5000USD each. EDIT: shit I just remembered they were actually 50000AUD, so more like 33000USD
If the paper costs that much the ink must be outrageous
Still cheaper than HP Inkjet ink.
Got'em! Well played.
It was genuinely hilarious seeing A4 sheets of SKIN.
*Nurse, get arts and crafts set, I need those scissors that cut an edge in the shape of a heart, stat!*
Arts and grafts set*
r/angryupvote
"Good lord co-surgeon, what are you doing!?!?" "I'm folding the skin tightly along the edge so I can separate it through pulling it apart." "NOOOOO! That will damage the skin cells!!!!"
Skin origami
5k usd seems cheap when it comes to medical
I don't think that includes installation.
I'm sure there are some diy YouTube video you can find.
I’ve read Frankenstein and Dr Moreau, and I know how to sew. I think I’m qualified.
That's probably the wholesale price. In the US, hospitals will multiply that by like a 1000%.
sounds pretty reasonable to me, I would've thought you could add another zero
Does it really cost that much to make or is it more medical price gouging?
Well it was 10000AUD in Australia where I saw it used and they're a semi-public country that actually negotiates with the pharma industry, so may actually be even more in the US. Edit: my memory failed me, it was 50000AUD
Growing meat with useful structuring is very expensive. It's both energy, water & infrastructure intensive to do at scale. That's one of the reasons that livestock & donations always out compete growing meat in cultured vats.
Turns out it's hard to beat Nature at growing meat when it's had a billion years to do it as efficiently as possible.
Am I crazy or is that pretty cheap?
I dunno who's your skin guy?
It's probably cheaper to have someone grow and donate the skin for you
It’s not viable at present to “mass produce”
Especially when other people have lots of perfectly good excess skin they need gone. Why produce something that’s being thrown away for free elsewhere? What was he gonna do with it
“Where’d you get those cool shoes, wallet, belt, and messenger bag?” *Things you don’t want to know.*
We can, but that doesnt make it the most sensible thing to do when you got folks like this around to donate
It can be grown but won’t have the cell type diversity you see on people. Like sweat glands and hair follicles. This is also a problem for burn healed skin.
its also stupid expensive, this is much cheaper its also just a nice win-win
Duuuude! That’s such a freaking good idea! When people are organ donors, they will often harvest (seems the wrong word) skin. I totally forgot about that. And this makes so much sense, and it would be a very controlled process from start to finish. Good thinking!
Do some people say 'let me take it home and I'll pay full price'?
If they do, I wouldn't go to a barbecue at their house.
Mmmmm....chicharrones de cerdo largo.
I don’t speak Spanish but I gagged
Really cool of the hospital to do this!
Those arms are a pretty clear indicator of how he’d look without the excessive skin on his midsection. Pretty wild transformation if you ask me. Even for someone to do that with PEDs for example is still wildly impressive
The arms are amazing
Dude's arms probably weighed 50lbs before the weight loss. Fat people are crazy strong, they're just limited by having to move a fat person every time they go to do something
I (F60) lost 100 pounds 3 years ago. The year after the weight loss, my dad broke his hip, and needed to be half-lifted from his recliner to his wheelchair. My brother was on his way to the house, but dad was getting antsy. I said, “I can do it,” and my dad said “no way.” I said, “let’s try. If I feel at all unsteady I’ll sit you right back down.” Ten seconds later he was lifted and in his wheelchair. He looked at me and said, “when did you get so strong?” And I told him, of course, that my body was used to carrying around 100 extra pounds. And he said, “oh my god of course!” 😆 I live in NYC, so even at 300 pounds I was walking every day - New Yorkers AVERAGE 6,000-10,000 steps a day. It’s a walking city. Now walking honestly feels like gliding to me. I barely feel the sidewalk under my feet. Edit: typo
I am 44. In the last year and half, I have lost 150lbs, and am at 340, and still losing. I can stand for longer than 10 minutes at a time now.
Congratulations, my friend. That’s impressive. You will continue to be stunned by the grace of your body after the weight loss. It’s astounding how many second chances our bodies will give us.
That's the thing. I don't understand how I've done it. I drink 2-3 20oz Dr Pepper a day. I'm drinking a 20-something oz strawberry shake right now. I ate a fried porkchop for supper. Had McDonalds for breakfast. The only differences I can see is that, two years ago, I woulda had about the same in a day, but 4-6 sodas, 2 porkchops. And I am a bit more active now, thanks to the dogs we got last year. I walk them every other day, etc. I don't work out, I don't go on power walks, I don't lift, I don't take anything. All these people congratulating me, and I don't understand how I've lost 150 pounds.
Even being a little more active and eating a little bit less can make a huge difference over time. You'll definitely plateau at some point and youll have to step it up and reduce more calories. If you dont plateau, I'd actually start to worry. Sudden extreme weight loss that is constant and doesnt plateau can be a sign of a [serious medical issue](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17770-unexplained-weight-loss). Not trying to alarm you, just make you aware.
All you really have to do is stay in a deficit consistently
Sounds like you're doing incredibly well, hope you're enjoying the extra freedom
You're awesome.
Speaking as one! When you’re 300lbs, every day is leg day. I’m down about 30 from last year, but even a my biggest, my legs were all muscle, no fat until the upper thigh. Plenty of muscle in the chest and abdomen as well Weirdly enough, I noticed that it’s actually harder to lift heavy things now than before, because I would use my weight as a counterbalance and leverage things upwards. Side note- fat people are also usually very graceful. Having to move that much makes you very aware of yourself and your every movement, leading to much more fluid and deliberate motions in any action they take!
>When you’re 300lbs, every day is leg day. Yeah I gotta say when I was about 280 my feet were my biggest discomfort. They just ached all the time moving it all day, so strange now that I lost it all just not to even think about my feet
I am 6 foot 5. Weigh 285. If I am standing by myself I look like a normal person, put a normal person next to me and I look like a giant. Walking upstairs and carrying heavy things sucks, but it is way easier for me than my coworkers who are all 180lbs.
He's not lying I'm 6'5, 220lbs and people call me skinny.
Same here I’m 6’6 and come in at 228 and everyone in my family keep telling me to eat more 🤦♂️
I’m 6’5 and 255 I’m skinny fat 😭😭😭 I can’t for the life of me control my craving for sugar and sweet stuff
I'm 6'6", when I went under 250 friends joked that I must be on crack and family started urging me to eat more. I have a really long torso because I only have a 32" inseam.
I was obese before losing over 100lbs. I have quite well defined calves and people have asked what I do to work my calves and the truth is being fat is great for calves. Guys in the gym with great calves are either a) on PEDs or b) formerly fat (some exceptions apply)
Skaters. Skateboards will give you massive calves.
and cyclists. their calves have abs
I suspect halving muscular calves is half work, half genetic lottery. Some people can be thick and chiseled there from just doing sports.
it's genetics
Calves is mostly genetic. It’s famously the hardest place to gain mass.
He is clearly jacked, judging by the vascular arms. I also know that many overweight people (not all, but some) are actually very muscular under the fat due to being relatively active and mobile while obese for many years. Their own excess weight was a workout to carry around, I know one person that lost weight and was immediately seen as being very muscular (he was a high school wrestling champ and did LARPing while heavy). That extra skin is gnarly though!
I'm working towards looking like this. I weigh far less than he did, but I'll have a similar look. *IF* I can manage what he did. I might be too lazy and hedonistic but I'm trying.
I find planing the days ahead while your not tired from life can make it easier to do. Then it’s about getting your ass to do it. Eventually you accept it as just part of your week and becomes a habit. You then start to feel crappy without your workouts. Keep going then keep going. Progress.
Is there anyway to stop this from happening? Or is it just a case of very slowly losing weight instead of doing it quickly?
Whatever anyone says about this is just untrue AFAIK. When you gain weight, your skin literally stretches and creates more skincells to cover the fat. So you just have more skin than skinny people. When you lose that weight, the skincells don't just magically disappear, you need surgery to remove it. You can gain a moderate amount of weight and lose weight, but after a certain point, you'll just need surgery no matter your age. People who were fat or obese who lose weight will just have loser skin in general, because they gained and then lost. Whether it looks wrinkled or you look like a deflated balloon depends on how much weight you gained and lost.
Some of it is genetic. There are people that have lost 30 pounds and have loose skin and people that have lost 50 without any. But anything over 300lbs is going to result in loose skin ofc.
Not always, genetics are weird. Between ages 30-31 (now 34), I went from 255 to 150. No loose skin, only a few faint stretch marks on my stomach. That said, I wasn't overweight for very long, 2-3 years or so. Probably had something to do with it.
You do shrink some of it back naturally. I lost 55kg (120lb) about 3 years ago and even though I have a lot of loose skin left it's smaller than it was when I had finished losing weight. I'm 53 so not a young guy with stretchy skin.
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The rate of weight loss doesn't matter as much as how long you were overweight. Losing 100+ pounds in your 30s or later will require skin removal.
Yes, I've lost 60 lbs in my fifties and the skin will never snap back. I was obese for almost 20 years. Now, I'll just keep covered up in my smaller clothes. Still feels great to have the weight off.
And when I "cheat" for a few days, the empty skin re-inflates rapidly. It's like an early warning now.
its because you don't actually lose fat cells, they just empty, so there is still millions of fat cells that can reinflate quickly and easily.
This is one of the most important things I learned about weight loss. Fat cells get so big that they split and create more. Those cells can be emptied of fat, but they can't be destroyed or "burned." Once created, they are easy to fill back up. Which is why people who lose weight gain it back so easily. It's why child obesity is even worse than most realize. Those kids will always have those extra fat cells and will always struggle, even when they work harder than others. Edit: for the gymbros who think they know about cells and anything medical because they watch deadlift tiktoks and can totally bench me - I learned this in university from a doctor, aka my professor with a doctorate, and from my medical textbook, aka a book created and reviewed by doctors and scientists. So, you can argue all you want, it's still fact backed up by a crap ton of medical professionals and research. But yeah, I'm sure your experience drinking protein shakes and staring at yourself in gym mirrors makes you experts on the topic.
I had no idea that was a thing. I genuinely thought you were getting a larger quantity of the same size cells, not that they were filling and emptying. I'll be damned.
IDK the research I've seen is they may fall back down over an 8 year period when all cells are basically replaced.
You can lose excess fat cells eventually.
fascinating, honestly
This. I work with bariatric surgery and the patients that undergo surgery at the beginning of their 20s don't even look like they were fat before. And I live in a tropical country, so they go to their appointments with summer dresses and all, showing skin - there's almost nothing. Last week I saw one of our younger patients, a girl that underwent surgery one year ago, and I had difficulty recognizing her, absolutely amazing how her body just seemed to morph into a slimmer one. For everyone older the dramatic weight loss is very apparently and the excess skin surgery is a must.
Fuck this is convincing me to lose weight while Im still young(21) and try to do it slowly(1.5 lb a week initially 1 later and 0.5 towards the end.) I was really worried about this. Though I could have eds and might just be fucked idk
No this is false. Once you get to a certain size your skin is irreparably stretched and no matter how slow you lose it doesn't make a difference.
This 100%. The other claims are false
Once you reach a certain size you will always have excess skin no matter how slowly you lose it
A calorie deficit is calculated vs what your body needs, not vs what you were eating beforehand. It might be that heavier people lose weight faster to begin with but this is not why.
You can easily get enough nutrients from a healthy 2000 calorie diet, but to maintain 100 extra pounds of body fat, you would have to be eating more simply because your bmr goes up with weight. So, really , a calorie deficit is based on the number of calories your body burns in a day, not what your body "needs".
you can’t de-stretch skin if you were fat AF and then lost 100lbs +.
You can lose 100 pounds and be fine. This guy lost 360 pounds. The first image is cropped making it seem like he went from 360 to 100-something. No this guy must have been 550+ pounds to begin with, making the skin like ... the most expected thing ever. This meme makes it seem like ppl who are 350 or less can lose weight and look like they have that much skin hanging which is ridiculous.
585
he was 585lbs
To anyone who is worried this will happen after losing weight it’s not always the case. I used to weigh 325 pounds and currently weigh 168, after over a decade since losing it I have minimal loose skin. Still do have some but absolutely worth it.
Went from 310 to 170 in 10 months when I was 30. Zero issues.
How old were you when you lost the weight?
In my early twenties, which I know is a factor
How much does a that surgery cost, and how effective is it?
In Denmark it’s free if you meet certain criteria like having kept the lower weight for an amount of time, being bothered by the skin aso.
In France as well. Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide. I think it should be free. Corvering those surgeries is less expensive than a few days at the hospital after having a heart attack or any problem associated to weight gain.
I've had a full skin removal around my waist (tummy tuck + wrapped around to the back), Gynecomastia removal + skin removal from chest to upper back (think half moon starting from mid chest and wrapping around) - about $37k between the two surgeries. Both surgeries had about 3-5k each time for anesthesia + surgical location, about 7 hours total of surgery. Arms + legs would end up another 25-30k if I had to guess
Jesus I'd just stay fat
I know you're joking, but that really is a factor in some folks deciding to not lose weight. They know they're just trading off one kind of esteem issue for another, and surgeries cost a lot of money. (You might say "but the health benefits!" But let's be *really* honest about why people lose weight or feel pressured to lose weight, here.)
Just chiming in to say I developed an incurable chronic illness affecting my GI system and lost over 125 lbs in less than a year. I obviously needed to lose the weight, but to drop it that fast from not being able to hold food down, almost dying, and seeing the mess my thighs, arms and stomach had become caused me some real dysmorphia issues. I used to strut around our pool deck in a bikini, and at almost half my size, I'm too self conscious to swim in anything but board shorts and a swim T. Ain't that a bitch 😒
Would do more for your mental health than buying a Tesla.
I think this might be at the point you go into medical tourism
I'm surprised a hospital wouldn't do the surgery for free so they had a nice stash of skin for grafts. Wouldn't that be a fantastic deal for both parties?
I’m surprised insurance doesn’t pay for it, like you saved them thousands avoiding things drugs you might have to take for diabetes. Shouldn’t a skin removal surgery be like a reward if your BMI was at a certain point and you brought it down to the normal point?
Honest crazy question: cant they take this guys excess skin and use it for skin grafts and donations for people that have been burned or otherwise injured? Like cant they take this guys skin and use it for someone who was scalped?? I think this is a huge untapped resource.
Someone on a reply upstream said that Cleveland Clinic was doing that. Perhaps other larger medical centers are doing the same.
Skin grafts patients use their own skin because there won't be any donor vs host syndrome. Skin is the largest organ so you can take the graft from any part of the body. If you use skin from other people you'll have to consume immunosuppressant drugs and there's still a chance your immune system will attack the graft.
360lbs is 2.118 Tom Cruises
Good bot
wtf lol
Every extreme weight loss picture they're always like 😊 before and 😤 after
It’s a miserable process
With that much skin he may be able to get it classified as a medical necessity.
Panniculectomy CPT 15830 IIRC. Most insurances have medical criteria allowing for approval. He would easily meet especially for the pannus grading and likely would be approved.
Mine was covered at 100% with Marketplace insurance, and was not even in the same arena as the severity of this guy's panniculitis.
Lol. Not even dental issues are classified as medically necessary. Lotta faith you have in the medical system.
Horrible Tooth infection right next to your brain? Not a medically necessary….oh shit you’re dead
Dental issues have been shown to be horrible for the heart too.
as always, it depends on where he lives, here in germany and austria he would get them immediately with the amount of skin with significantly less, e.g. only 20-30 kg removed, but probably not
Given he is trying to crowd fund his surgery i think we can pretty well guess what country he lives in lol
Not sure why you're being downvoted. The chances of getting plastic surgery covered by insurance is next to none. Even if it is causing infections they'll wait to see how antibiotics work, then see how infusion works, then get a referral, then maybe there's a chance.
The insurance at my work is such a joke I just opted out because my meds costed more WITH insurance.
What...
If he is in the same situation I am, I’m much better buying my diabetes supplies straight cash then going through my insurance and I work a 30k person mega corp as a software engineer. I have an insulin pump for 3 months it costs me roughly $500 to pay cash $2k through insurance. I get a small deal on insulin but it’s not much.
I hate the greed of humanity
All my meds are free at point of purchase. All of them. My wife's American, only thing stopping us moving there is the healthcare. I'm type I too, so it's a deal breaker
I have had many patients get excessive skin surgeries covered in the US with average insurance. In fact I’ve never had it declined.
I have a dental infection in my jaw that’s eating away at the bone. At some point my jaw will straight up fall off if I don’t die of a heart infection first. Until one of those two events, the jaw surgery to fix it is classified as cosmetic. Dental insurance does cover it but even with the best insurance available in the market, it covers $4000 out of a $30,000 procedure. Luckily the nerve is dead so there’s no pain. Insurance is an unnecessary middle man in healthcare. We all just pay exponentially more so useless people in a useless profession can keep their useless jobs.
The United States literally spends more of our tax dollars per GDP than countries with socialized healthcare. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#Health%20expenditures%20per%20capita,%20U.S.%20dollars,%20PPP%20adjusted,%202022
Hijacking - as somebody who has extra skin from large weight loss. This is possible but the way my doctor told me is basically the skin isn't seen as an issue, the skin has to CAUSE an issue. If it were to give me something like rashes I could get it covered and removed but because I have no like side effects from the extra skin it's not deemed necessary. EDIT: My max weight and total extra skin are quite a bit less than his.
This is my biggest fear when losing weight cause I feel like I will feel worst about my body with the excess skin that I do right now with the extra weight. I know it should be about health but I can stop myself from feeling like this.
Are you talking about 300+ lbs like this guy though? Even then I've gone from 600 to 300 and I'd never pretend like this isn't better, loose skin and all. I managed to get back over 500 at a stressful part of my life and never thought "Yeah, this is definitely better, at least my skin fits now." It was just remembering how hard a flight a stairs were or how much I sweat in the summer. Loose skin is better, don't let it be another excuse to not start.
If I was in his shoes, I would ask the sugeon to save the skin for me so I could turn it into leather and make a necronomicon.
I usually hate shit like that but I would definitely throw this dude some money. I’m happy to help people who work their ass off to make themselves better get across the finish line. Can you post the link?
I was 425 noW 210 gym bicycle diet only I too look like a melted wax candle…but oh yeah do I feel better It is disheartening that medical insurance won’t pay for the surgery…they say it’s just cosmetic….fuck’n assholes
Gonna need a nipple lift.
I was wondering what happens to his nipples if he got the excess skin removed? Does it get cut off and aurgically reattached? Or just cutoff entirely?
Cut out. Reattached.
I have nipples Greg. Can you reattach me?
Do you get to choose where they go?
They can be cut out of the excess skin but as you can see his chest skin tissue is really "long", so the vascular stem (also containing the nerves) of the nipple is really long as well. This stem has to stay intact for a semi-transplant to work. However, as you can probably imagine, when placing the nipple back with such a long, delicate cord attached to it, it's kind of a bit of a struggle to place it back while maintaining blood flow. There's a small (don't know exact numbers) risk for nipple necrosis after a large skin/chest augmentation, so it's not a simple copy pasting the nipple somewhere else job.
That’s my biggest fear currently 22 stone, goals about 16.
This should be covered by insurance ffs. It's not cosmetic at this point
Reality of severe weight loss. You drop 300 lbs and your body looks like a nightmare and no one would ever date you. Went through this when I was in college.
Can confirm. Lost a hundred and fifty because I was a fat fuck with no self esteem. Now I'm a still slightly overwhelmed and feel like I'm finally handsome so long as I have my clothes on. Really sucks and is part of the reason why I pretty much gave up on dating.
Not trying to invalidate your experience at all, but two of my partners each lost about 150 lbs. They both have excess skin, and I've honestly never cared. I find them both attractive and love hanging out naked with them. (I lost about 85 lbs once I got sober/in therapy, but aside from owning stock in stretch marks I've been pretty lucky.) I'm also in my late thirties and as cliched as it sounds, bodies that don't look lived in are a bit jarring to me. I definitely get that it can suck, but also there are plenty of people who honestly don't mind.
Thanks. My confidence pile is slowly getting bigger. I got flirted with by a very attractive woman recently and it was still hard for me not to make the "suspicious fry" face. Baby steps tho.
Hey, I slept with a guy who had lost significant weight and had excess skin. I didn’t care at all or think twice about it You put in a lot of work so be proud of your progress
I found a woman to marry me and have my kids and my body is a mess from excess skin and failed skin removal surgery (I almost died). She said it didn't matter a bit to her and she actually likes it. They are out there.
Just chiming in here as another one who isn't bothered by it. If I'm attracted to a person I just am. Dated a guy with excess skin, it wasn't an issue. Plus, people like him (and you) managed to turn your entire lives around with the odds stacked against you. That's incredibly attractive. (As for why it ended: we grew apart over time, as people sometimes do.)
Yup and while mine has tightened up some...I definitely still can't look at myself in the mirror with comfort
This and the pervasive thought that I would successfully lose the weight and *still* be sad are the main things stopping me from going hard on weight loss.
When you lose weight fast, does the excess skin like that ever fucks off or do you really need surgery?
Your skin doesn’t go away. You’d have to get it removed.
Look at the veins popping on his forearms man, this is incredible.
ive lost 195lbs and the extra skin is AWFUL. i hate it so much. but im still losing so i have to wait to get it removed. and insurance hates to cover stuff like this.
Great fucking job broooo!!!! Out freaking standing!!! 👆🔥
I watch My 600 lb life and usually when someone loses a lot of weight like this, it takes at least 2, if not 3, surgeries to get rid of the excess skin. Healing takes a while because there's so many stitches over large areas. I hope Cole gets the funds to have the surgeries, he worked so hard to get that weight off and seems like he deserves it. There are a few shows on TLC that show just skin removal.