Comments on: How Your Extra Skin Can Save Lives http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/ Cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions! We are a group of cosmetic scientists who understand what the chemicals used in cosmetics really do, how products are tested, and what all the advertising means. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:42:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Heather Minick http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-77529 Heather Minick Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:03:32 +0000 http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/#comment-77529 I like so many above me am in the same situation....I had gastric bypass on Feb. 13th, 2009. My starting weight was 500 lbs I am now almost 3 years out and weigh 275-280....I have so much excess skin that its not funny. I was told that there were burn centers that would pay for my surgery but after searching on the internet I found that not to be true...Is there anything out there that will pay for my surgery and allow me to donate my excess skin??? I am a mother of 3 handsome sons I can do more then I could before but if I could get this excess of me I can do even more....I'M DESPERATE PLEASE SOMEONE HELP....I NEED NEAR OR IN INDIANA IF AT ALL POSSIBLE... Thanks, Heather I like so many above me am in the same situation….I had gastric bypass on Feb. 13th, 2009. My starting weight was 500 lbs I am now almost 3 years out and weigh 275-280….I have so much excess skin that its not funny. I was told that there were burn centers that would pay for my surgery but after searching on the internet I found that not to be true…Is there anything out there that will pay for my surgery and allow me to donate my excess skin??? I am a mother of 3 handsome sons I can do more then I could before but if I could get this excess of me I can do even more….I’M DESPERATE PLEASE SOMEONE HELP….I NEED NEAR OR IN INDIANA IF AT ALL POSSIBLE…
Thanks,
Heather

]]> By: connie martinez http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-71255 connie martinez Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:48:46 +0000 http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/#comment-71255 I am looking to donate my skin I was 310 pounds and I am 165 pounds now and have skin to donate I am looking to donate my skin I was 310 pounds and I am 165 pounds now and have skin to donate

]]> By: Cindy http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-70859 Cindy Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:33:14 +0000 http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/#comment-70859 Hello I have read the articals about the extra skin removal. I to have a lot of extra skin. I want to be able to get rid of the extra skin and I have no insurance. Is there a place wher I can get it done for free. I am willing to donate all I got. I have tryed tiets walking starving my self and it just wont come off. I have had 6 kids and with each kid it just got worse. My whole familyis fat and I just cant stand it any more. the extra skin cause me to get sore due to the heat and sweat. I walk and Im getting healthy but the skin is making it hard for me I want to be healthy as well as look better. I want this skin off so bad. I look at my self in descut because I have it and cant get it off. PLEASE HELP ME. IF u know of any one please let me know at grandmotherof6monkeys@yahoo.com Thanks Cindy Hello I have read the articals about the extra skin removal.

I to have a lot of extra skin. I want to be able to get rid of the extra skin and I have no insurance. Is there a place wher I can get it done for free. I am willing to donate all I got. I have tryed tiets walking starving my self and it just wont come off. I have had 6 kids and with each kid it just got worse. My whole familyis fat and I just cant stand it any more. the extra skin cause me to get sore due to the heat and sweat. I walk and Im getting healthy but the skin is making it hard for me I want to be healthy as well as look better. I want this skin off so bad. I look at my self in descut because I have it and cant get it off. PLEASE HELP ME. IF u know of any one please let me know at grandmotherof6monkeys@yahoo.com

Thanks
Cindy

]]> By: Lori Brooks http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-69677 Lori Brooks Wed, 18 May 2011 23:21:54 +0000 http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/#comment-69677 I see I'm not the only one in the same boat here! Deborah, I've been researching all day today on this issue and I'm surprised that your surgeon asked YOU to find out where he could send your skin. Hopefully what I've found today will help you out. From what I have read today surgeon's have to be registered in order to harvest skin to donate. Take a look at the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation at http://mtf.org/donor/living_skin.html. The instructions state this: Have your doctor contact the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation at 800-581-2804, or call them yourself. I copied that instruction from the ehow website. From their website there is a form you can fill out along with a whole bunch of other information. However, the reason I've been researching is because along with many of you here I am unable to afford to have my excess skin removed. I had bypass in July 2006. Top weight of 386 lbs, lost 256 lbs in 15 months. I lost it so fast that no matter how much I excercised or hydrated the skin just couldn't catch up! I was 25 when I started looking into having gastric bypass but didn't have it until I was 40. There were several reason's I waited: 1. I wanted to try every possible means to do it on my own. I tried every fad, pill, powder, even had a 'balloon' put in my stomach at one point! Was considered a safer alternative to surgery..I was 19 when I did that. It was called the "gastric bubble". LOL! I haven't talked to anyone else who has done that! Reason 2: I wanted to watch to progression of the surgery...higher success...less mortality, hoping one day it would be done laproscopically. Reason 3: I wanted to be able to donate my excess skin to burn victims. Up until recent years there was no way to harvest skin & preserve it for later use. I've been an organ donor since the age of 12 due to a brain tumor my little brother had that killed the pituatary gland. He needed all the hormones that the pituatary gland produced & the only way of getting it was it had to be retreived from the deceased rapidly after passing. There were no synthetic forms at the time & he had to have 3 shots a week. I can't remember how many 'donors' it took to fulfill those 3 shots. I learned then how very important it was to be a donor so truly one of my first thoughts when thinking about bypass was knowing there would be excess skin because of rapid weight loss so it was only logical to me that I needed to wait for progress in that area before going forward. Well, in 2004 I twisted by knee dancing to 'hiphop' music....even at almost 400 lbs I was extremely active and had no other medical problems. Doctor's were often stunned when my bp was low, my cholesteral was low, my heart was healthy...so on and so on....Unfotunately, my knee did not want to heal. I had it MRI'd to see if something was torn...and sure enough it was a simple strain that couldn't heal because of my weight. I ended up having injection's done in my knee so I could stay active. About a year later I decided enough was enough. The injections weren't helping as much as they did in the beginning & it was getting harder to stay active. I approached my doctor about having bypass surgery. He felt I was a good candidate with exception that I had no real underlying medical problems so I probably wouldn't be approved. About the same time I was taken off work due to injuries to my arms..work related..and my insurance changed. With all this going on I started having anxiety attacks, mobility was becoming a major issue & depression was sitting in. So, I approached my doctor again about gastric bypass. He agreed it was time & sent in the request along with adding that I had some 'qualifying' medical conditions...my knee became arthritis, my anxiety became hypertension, and then the depression spoke for itself. I had a wonderful doctor! He knew I had truly tried and tried over the years. The company I worked for changed insurance companies again right in the middle of waiting for approval and jumping through the hoops! I was still off work from my arm injuries, unable to do anything..I was ordered no lifting, no typing, no scrubbing...basically told not to use my arms for anything strenuous! I went from being extremely active to sitting doing nothing! It got to where I could barely walk the 30 ft from the bed to the bathroom! I asked my doctor to try again. In January 2006 my doctor sent in a request for the Lap Band, the thought behind this was that it is a much less expensive procedure & the experience he had with the new insurance company I had was pretty good on approving the Lap Band. A couple weeks after he sent the request we both got a big surprise.....He received a letter from the insurance company denying the Lap Band and approving a consultation with a Gastric Bypass surgeon! There reason was I was too obese to be a successful candidate for the Lap Band & a perfect candidate for Gastric Bypass! No hoops to jump through, no six months of Weight Watchers or seeing a nutritionist....they set me up with an appointment to see the surgeon in February. My doctor had sent all my documentation of all the different programs I had been on, the nutritionists I had worked with & the trainers I had worked with over the years and that was good enough for them. The only place they would approve was 300 miles from home but highly recommended. When it came time for my appointment my husband ended up in the hospital & we couldn't go. I rescheduled but they couldn't get me in until May 2006. We went down met with the internal medicine doctor, the surgeon, & then a psych consult. After all 3 appointments I met with their insurance co-ordinator. She told me that more than likely I would be 'denied' but not to worry she already has standard letters set up that she customizes for each patient to 'fight' for approval. She told me that it would probably be 8 to 12 weeks before I would hear from here. I was okay with that....2 weeks later I received a phone call from her. I said "wow, that was fast they already denied me?" She said with a giggle "Well, not exactly, I didn't even have to fight for you...I'm calling to schedule surgery!" I was speechless & started bawling! I'd waited all these years & it was finally happening! All in God's time, not mine! Surgery was scheduled July 18th, 2006. I asked the surgeon 2 things the day of surgery. 1. Can it be done laporascopically yet? 2. Can I donate my skin when I lose all the weight? He answered yes to both questions. That's when I knew it was definately all in God's time! 8 weeks to the day after my surgery my husband had his foot crushed by a 25,000lb heavy equipment trailer. Thank God I had already had surgery & recovered from it before this happened! I had already lost 50 lbs & it's amazing what a difference it already made! My husband was bound to a wheelchair & I had to be able to lift it in and out of our truck, and take care of him, and anything else that came along. Now we're both out on work related injuries! Our income was cut in half! In December 2006 the doctor's determined that I was unable to go back to work & they couldn't fix my arms. Too much wrong to fix & I would probably end up worse off! February 2007...after 8 surgeries, a partial amputation of my husband's right foot, 4 toes left but had no feeling or movement and he was told he could not go back to work...the only type of work he has ever done in his life. It just keeps getting better! We were drowning financially & having to make some tough decisions. We talked with a friend about renting his 35ft 5th wheel & live in it. We worked out the deal & in July 2007 we were out of our 1500 sq ft home into a 400 sq ft 5th wheel. We sold everything we could & kept very little that we would have to put in storage. We were out looking at RV parks to live in and again was Blessed. We found a new place that had just opened and the managers needed a "camp host" meaning we would work a couple days a week in exchange for our site & electricity. Work was taking phone calls, helping customers, keeping the grounds clean. With our injuries it wasn't too much for us to handle so we agreed. It wasn't a destination type place, it was more of a "driving down the freeway, it's late, thank goodness there's an rv park" kinda place. We really started to like this whole new world of the full-time RV lifestyle! A year later we decided we'd like to find a place that people actual planned on going to. We checked out the areas just north of our hometown & found a place about 100 miles away. We came here to relax for a bit then find a new 'work camping' assignment. A few weeks into our stay we were asked if we would be interested in 'camp hosting' here. We jumped a the chance! Thank God we did because a month later my benefits ran out! We had no idea that even though you were still under the dr's care (workers comp) & being kept off work that you only got benefits for 24 months! Another big chunk of income gone! My medical insurance had run out in December 2007. All of this has happened before I had a chance to have my excess skin removed & my insurance would have covered it! I am desperately looking to find an organization that will cover the cost of removal. I am fortunate that all of my excess skin is easy to cover. It's from my waist to the top of my knees. I was not a 'top heavy' person to begin with so I don't have saggy skin on my face or neck. Most people are shocked when I tell them how much I used to weigh because to look at me you can't tell. I get horrible rashes from the belly skin that hangs to the top of my thighs & often has a 'foul' odor to it. I feel 'heavy' when I walk because of so much movement of the skin. Sometimes it even knocks me off balance. In the summer I tuck a washrag under my belly flab to absorb the sweat. I used to have 76" hips just to give you an idea of how much extra skin is in that area. I didn't realize HOW big that was until I said outloud "Oh my gosh, that is 6' 4"....I have uncles that are 6' 3" & to imagine my hips were as big around as they were tall just made me sick to my stomach! I'm only 5' 6". If anyone comes up with anything please let me know & I will do the same. I am in Central California. I have written a letter to a plastic surgeon that I found in Sacramento that is one of the doctor's that does harvesting for the MTF. I will be more than happy to share any info I find! Congrats to all of you who have succeeded in losing your weight & to all of you that have just started your journey!!!! I am not a 'surgery' cheerleader for weightloss....I truly feel that those who have honestly tried everything possible unsuccessfully should have gastric bypass. It is meerly a tool! You have to change your lifestyle...it doesn't just fix the problem! I know this is long but I wanted to express that I am not one to look for a handout or 'freebies'....I truly need help. Thank You all so much, Lori Brooks I see I’m not the only one in the same boat here! Deborah, I’ve been researching all day today on this issue and I’m surprised that your surgeon asked YOU to find out where he could send your skin. Hopefully what I’ve found today will help you out. From what I have read today surgeon’s have to be registered in order to harvest skin to donate. Take a look at the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation at http://mtf.org/donor/living_skin.html. The instructions state this: Have your doctor contact the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation at 800-581-2804, or call them yourself. I copied that instruction from the ehow website. From their website there is a form you can fill out along with a whole bunch of other information.
However, the reason I’ve been researching is because along with many of you here I am unable to afford to have my excess skin removed. I had bypass in July 2006. Top weight of 386 lbs, lost 256 lbs in 15 months. I lost it so fast that no matter how much I excercised or hydrated the skin just couldn’t catch up! I was 25 when I started looking into having gastric bypass but didn’t have it until I was 40. There were several reason’s I waited: 1. I wanted to try every possible means to do it on my own. I tried every fad, pill, powder, even had a ‘balloon’ put in my stomach at one point! Was considered a safer alternative to surgery..I was 19 when I did that. It was called the “gastric bubble”. LOL! I haven’t talked to anyone else who has done that! Reason 2: I wanted to watch to progression of the surgery…higher success…less mortality, hoping one day it would be done laproscopically. Reason 3: I wanted to be able to donate my excess skin to burn victims. Up until recent years there was no way to harvest skin & preserve it for later use. I’ve been an organ donor since the age of 12 due to a brain tumor my little brother had that killed the pituatary gland. He needed all the hormones that the pituatary gland produced & the only way of getting it was it had to be retreived from the deceased rapidly after passing. There were no synthetic forms at the time & he had to have 3 shots a week. I can’t remember how many ‘donors’ it took to fulfill those 3 shots. I learned then how very important it was to be a donor so truly one of my first thoughts when thinking about bypass was knowing there would be excess skin because of rapid weight loss so it was only logical to me that I needed to wait for progress in that area before going forward. Well, in 2004 I twisted by knee dancing to ‘hiphop’ music….even at almost 400 lbs I was extremely active and had no other medical problems. Doctor’s were often stunned when my bp was low, my cholesteral was low, my heart was healthy…so on and so on….Unfotunately, my knee did not want to heal. I had it MRI’d to see if something was torn…and sure enough it was a simple strain that couldn’t heal because of my weight. I ended up having injection’s done in my knee so I could stay active. About a year later I decided enough was enough. The injections weren’t helping as much as they did in the beginning & it was getting harder to stay active. I approached my doctor about having bypass surgery. He felt I was a good candidate with exception that I had no real underlying medical problems so I probably wouldn’t be approved. About the same time I was taken off work due to injuries to my arms..work related..and my insurance changed. With all this going on I started having anxiety attacks, mobility was becoming a major issue & depression was sitting in. So, I approached my doctor again about gastric bypass. He agreed it was time & sent in the request along with adding that I had some ‘qualifying’ medical conditions…my knee became arthritis, my anxiety became hypertension, and then the depression spoke for itself. I had a wonderful doctor! He knew I had truly tried and tried over the years. The company I worked for changed insurance companies again right in the middle of waiting for approval and jumping through the hoops! I was still off work from my arm injuries, unable to do anything..I was ordered no lifting, no typing, no scrubbing…basically told not to use my arms for anything strenuous! I went from being extremely active to sitting doing nothing! It got to where I could barely walk the 30 ft from the bed to the bathroom! I asked my doctor to try again. In January 2006 my doctor sent in a request for the Lap Band, the thought behind this was that it is a much less expensive procedure & the experience he had with the new insurance company I had was pretty good on approving the Lap Band. A couple weeks after he sent the request we both got a big surprise…..He received a letter from the insurance company denying the Lap Band and approving a consultation with a Gastric Bypass surgeon! There reason was I was too obese to be a successful candidate for the Lap Band & a perfect candidate for Gastric Bypass! No hoops to jump through, no six months of Weight Watchers or seeing a nutritionist….they set me up with an appointment to see the surgeon in February. My doctor had sent all my documentation of all the different programs I had been on, the nutritionists I had worked with & the trainers I had worked with over the years and that was good enough for them. The only place they would approve was 300 miles from home but highly recommended. When it came time for my appointment my husband ended up in the hospital & we couldn’t go. I rescheduled but they couldn’t get me in until May 2006. We went down met with the internal medicine doctor, the surgeon, & then a psych consult. After all 3 appointments I met with their insurance co-ordinator. She told me that more than likely I would be ‘denied’ but not to worry she already has standard letters set up that she customizes for each patient to ‘fight’ for approval. She told me that it would probably be 8 to 12 weeks before I would hear from here. I was okay with that….2 weeks later I received a phone call from her. I said “wow, that was fast they already denied me?” She said with a giggle “Well, not exactly, I didn’t even have to fight for you…I’m calling to schedule surgery!” I was speechless & started bawling! I’d waited all these years & it was finally happening! All in God’s time, not mine! Surgery was scheduled July 18th, 2006. I asked the surgeon 2 things the day of surgery. 1. Can it be done laporascopically yet? 2. Can I donate my skin when I lose all the weight? He answered yes to both questions. That’s when I knew it was definately all in God’s time! 8 weeks to the day after my surgery my husband had his foot crushed by a 25,000lb heavy equipment trailer. Thank God I had already had surgery & recovered from it before this happened! I had already lost 50 lbs & it’s amazing what a difference it already made! My husband was bound to a wheelchair & I had to be able to lift it in and out of our truck, and take care of him, and anything else that came along. Now we’re both out on work related injuries! Our income was cut in half! In December 2006 the doctor’s determined that I was unable to go back to work & they couldn’t fix my arms. Too much wrong to fix & I would probably end up worse off! February 2007…after 8 surgeries, a partial amputation of my husband’s right foot, 4 toes left but had no feeling or movement and he was told he could not go back to work…the only type of work he has ever done in his life. It just keeps getting better! We were drowning financially & having to make some tough decisions. We talked with a friend about renting his 35ft 5th wheel & live in it. We worked out the deal & in July 2007 we were out of our 1500 sq ft home into a 400 sq ft 5th wheel. We sold everything we could & kept very little that we would have to put in storage. We were out looking at RV parks to live in and again was Blessed. We found a new place that had just opened and the managers needed a “camp host” meaning we would work a couple days a week in exchange for our site & electricity. Work was taking phone calls, helping customers, keeping the grounds clean. With our injuries it wasn’t too much for us to handle so we agreed. It wasn’t a destination type place, it was more of a “driving down the freeway, it’s late, thank goodness there’s an rv park” kinda place. We really started to like this whole new world of the full-time RV lifestyle! A year later we decided we’d like to find a place that people actual planned on going to. We checked out the areas just north of our hometown & found a place about 100 miles away. We came here to relax for a bit then find a new ‘work camping’ assignment. A few weeks into our stay we were asked if we would be interested in ‘camp hosting’ here. We jumped a the chance! Thank God we did because a month later my benefits ran out! We had no idea that even though you were still under the dr’s care (workers comp) & being kept off work that you only got benefits for 24 months! Another big chunk of income gone! My medical insurance had run out in December 2007. All of this has happened before I had a chance to have my excess skin removed & my insurance would have covered it! I am desperately looking to find an organization that will cover the cost of removal. I am fortunate that all of my excess skin is easy to cover. It’s from my waist to the top of my knees. I was not a ‘top heavy’ person to begin with so I don’t have saggy skin on my face or neck. Most people are shocked when I tell them how much I used to weigh because to look at me you can’t tell. I get horrible rashes from the belly skin that hangs to the top of my thighs & often has a ‘foul’ odor to it. I feel ‘heavy’ when I walk because of so much movement of the skin. Sometimes it even knocks me off balance. In the summer I tuck a washrag under my belly flab to absorb the sweat. I used to have 76″ hips just to give you an idea of how much extra skin is in that area. I didn’t realize HOW big that was until I said outloud “Oh my gosh, that is 6′ 4″….I have uncles that are 6′ 3″ & to imagine my hips were as big around as they were tall just made me sick to my stomach! I’m only 5′ 6″. If anyone comes up with anything please let me know & I will do the same. I am in Central California. I have written a letter to a plastic surgeon that I found in Sacramento that is one of the doctor’s that does harvesting for the MTF. I will be more than happy to share any info I find!
Congrats to all of you who have succeeded in losing your weight & to all of you that have just started your journey!!!! I am not a ‘surgery’ cheerleader for weightloss….I truly feel that those who have honestly tried everything possible unsuccessfully should have gastric bypass. It is meerly a tool! You have to change your lifestyle…it doesn’t just fix the problem!
I know this is long but I wanted to express that I am not one to look for a handout or ‘freebies’….I truly need help.

Thank You all so much,
Lori Brooks

]]> By: DEBORAH MARROW http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-68549 DEBORAH MARROW Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:08:22 +0000 http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/09/09/how-your-extra-skin-can-save-lives/#comment-68549 I live in Houston, Tx and I would like to know how to donate living skin to help people in whatever they may need. my excess skin is on my upper thighs and upper arms. i was told by my plastic surgery doctor to see if there were any hospital or company that does this and if so, to give his name and number and he has other patients that he knows would be more than happy to donate their live skin after their surgeries. Thank you, Deborah Marrow I live in Houston, Tx and I would like to know how to donate living skin to help people in whatever they may need. my excess skin is on my upper thighs and upper arms. i was told by my plastic surgery doctor to see if there were any hospital or company that does this and if so, to give his name and number and he has other patients that he knows would be more than happy to donate their live skin after their surgeries.

Thank you,
Deborah Marrow

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