How To Get Rid Of Dead Skin On Lips

When you have 100 or more pounds to lose, bariatric surgery—such as gastric bypass—is often the fastest, safest, and most effective option. But while the pounds come off (relatively) easily after the procedure, your skin may not contract so quickly. (Want to pick up some healthier habits? Sign up to get weight loss inspiration delivered straight to your inbox!)

"When people gain a tremendous amount of weight, the skin stretches out," says Steven Davis, DO, a board-certified plastic surgeon. "Then when they lose that weight quickly, they're left with loose, hanging, empty skin."

While you can try to tone or conceal that excess skin with exercise and other treatments, the only way to truly rid yourself of that extra hide may be to go under the knife. Again.

Following her gastric bypass surgery—which resulted in 200 pounds of dropped weight—Jennifer Brown (below), 48, of Santa Monica, CA, required five separate plastic surgeries. Those included a 360-degree body lift, leg lift, face-lift, torso and breast lift, and arm lift—all of which resulted in another 60-plus pounds lost from excess skin.

MORE:6 Ways To Get Started When You Have 50+ Pounds To Lose

Jennifer Brown

Cheryl Cleveland, 57, of Long Beach, CA, and Antoinette Liberati (below), 59, of Cherry Hill, NJ, also opted for plastic surgery post weight loss. "It was a very necessary part of my weight loss surgery," Cleveland says. "Once that [excess skin] was gone, I really felt like I had accomplished something."

Brown, Cleveland, and Liberati all say that their skin surgeries went off without a hitch. But before you go booking your appointment with a surgeon and his scalpel, keep in mind that most of these procedures aren't fully covered by insurance—and are anything but cheap.

"As a general rule of thumb, each of these procedures ranges from $5,000 to $15,000," Davis says. The range varies because each individual surgery depends on several different factors—such as how much skin there is to remove, how long the procedure will take, and how many additional costs and fees the facility will tack on.

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Luckily—or unluckily, depending on how you look at it—there are some instances where insurance will cover your secondary trip under the knife. "Hygiene issues and skin irritation from the friction of excess skin can warrant insurance coverage," says Debra Johnson, MD, president-elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Some insurance companies will also spring for coverage if you meet minimums in terms of the amount of excess skin that needs to be removed.

Antoinette Liberati

Now the good news. Most of the procedures are quick: "99.9% of the procedures are same-day surgery," Davis says. "You come in to the facility, get the procedure done, and go right home." You'll have about 2 weeks of downtime for recovery, and then you should be able to get back on track with your daily life... unless you plan to get another procedure done. In that case, according to Davis, you should probably wait 6 to 8 weeks before going under the knife again.

What you should really know is that, when it comes to weight loss surgery, the resulting skin issues may turn out to be a lot more costly and time consuming than the initial procedure.

But the follow-up surgery is often still worth it. "Part of my brain wishes I had done it earlier," Brown says—echoing a sentiment the other women shared.

"I would do it all over again without blinking," Liberati says.

Amber Brenza Amber Brenza is the health editor at Women's Health, and she oversees the website's health and weight loss verticals.

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