The following post from our forum is from a man who just had a Panniculectomy, Gynecomastia & Plication Surgery after losing 100 lbs of weight. He is just starting the recovery phase of his operation.

Date: 10/20/2011 Submitted by: Mark48 Hours Post Surgery: Panniculectomy, Gynecomastia & Plication Surgery

See what Mark said before the surgery.

AFTER THE SURGERY
Hi Tanner. 48 hours post surgery. Not too bad. Can’t wait for the next few weeks to get over with!

RESPONSE

Date: 10/20/2011 Submitted by: Tanner

Mark,

Well you made it through those “next few weeks” BEFORE the operation. Were they as bad as you expected or did they pass by quickly?

Either way, it’s good to have them behind you, I imagine.

Glad to hear that all went well with the surgery (or at least not too bad). Did you (or do you) have any pain or complications?

I would be interested to hear what you consider to be the “worst” part of your experience or what things are different to what you expected.

Barring any complications, the next few weeks shouldn’t be too bad. Hopefully, it should be all down hill from here.

Don’t expect too much when you remove the compression garment and bandages (if you haven’t already). The swelling takes a long time to go down and for the incisions to heal, but at least you get to see the extra skin “GONE”.

I assume that you are all trussed up in your compression garment and can only move in slow motion.

Just take it real easy for the next few weeks.

Good luck with your recovery.

Tanner

FOLLOW-UP MESSAGE
Hey Tanner…good to hear back from you. You were right – the best days are ahead of me now There is a large amount of swelling and retained fluid (I can hear it gurgle when I move around!) but I can already figure out what things will eventually look like and I am thrilled. The pain and discomfort is not too bad – I took the pain meds for the first 48 hours and dozed off for the most part. The only negative of the pain meds is they cause constipation – – BIG TIME!! lol Today was the med to get rid of the constpation…..and I thought the surgery was bad!!!

I am feeling surprisingly well…a bit tender, but that is to be expected. Turns out that the best decision I made before the surgery was renting an electric la-z-boy lift chair. It only cost $50 per week and has made a huge difference in my comfort.

Being that I had both the chest reduction and tummy tuck I can see a huge difference. Pretty amazing. I’ve though about looking like this all my life. In fact – I am looking forward to the scars. Got another story to tell!

OK – so far the worst part of the process was gaining all the weight that I had to lose!

Realistically – the procudere was not that bad….just getting through the next few weeks and hoping that everything goes smoothly.

Thanks again for all your help.

Mark