Twin Skin!!!

[groovychick2]

Does anyone know of how to get rid of the dreaded "twin skin"? I have a patch of wrinkly skin the size of my palm around my belly button that no amount of exercise or cream has managed to shift.Short of a tummy tuck I guess I'm stuck with it.

[RedHead81]

twin skin???
I've had 2 babies (not twins) and my wrinkly skin is MUCH bigger than the palm of my hand! lol - Think we are stuck with it I'm afraid! Be proud of it - look at what you have!

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

Palm of your hand?



Don't want to sound unsympathetic, but I would sell my soul for just that much wrinkly skin.

2 children later, and weighing less than I did pre-pregnancy, my tummy is more fucked than tucked.

[groovychick2]

WhereTheWildThingsWere-love that last phrase.Made me laugh!!!

[kitstwins]

The joys of twin skin. Bizarrely, mine DID disappear but it took a while. Probably about 10 months post birth and that was after using bio oil on the area twice a day. I think that helped. It's still slightly loose as the skin just stretched so quickly (I personally don't think it's how massive you get with twins, rather how quickly you get massive that causes the destruction....) but it's not wrinkly any more. Keep using the creams and it might improve, but it's probably worth accepting that this is an unavoidable badge of honour of twin motherhood. We are fabulous in so many other ways after all....

On an aside, I'm willing to stake the contents of my fridge that Anjelina Jolie doesn't have twin skin!! Bint!

[lulururu]

mmmm...mine goes across from hip bone to hip bone and from rib cage to below my "knicker line" and hangs attractively down when i lean forward...i "affectionately" or rather abusively call it my bollock despite being thinner than pre-twins. i also no longer have a tummy button and instead have a funny "hood" that looks like an eyebrow - something i could prob put eyeshadow on!!!!

[groovychick2]

Is it all wrinkly like mine? I exercise regularly and am reasonably toned but my tummy looks like a 90yr old!My boys are 5 now so its not going anywhere.I always change in cubicles at the gym so no one can see it.

[lulururu]

yes although i'm skinny its just this mass of entirely old lady skin - know exactly what you mean about 90 year old skin!! my twins are 10 months so "perhaps" it might get a "little" better but i feel really self conscious about mine too and i wear that shapewear/support underwear - nancy ganz brand is good (belly bands/tall knickers/corsets/tight slips) so that my skin is completely covered so that no one sees my skin if my top rides up. it also holds in my nothing of a tummy button which cos its so hooded where my belly button was it sticks out and you can see it under slinky tops unless i wear my shapewear underwear which although most of it is unattractive you can get quite foxy looking camisoles and corsety looking things. i teach aerobics classes and yoga classes and used to teach in bra tops - well gone are those days of baring my tummy!!!

i looked into what the surgery options were as my abs had separated by a hand width as well (they're in to 2 finger widths now) and it would cost about £3000 to have a mesh put in to put the abs back together (cos i can't do traditional ab exercises now which makes teaching at the gym a little hard and looks gross when my internal organs rise up when i sit up from lying down and move around) and to tuck all the excess wrinkly skin away. but then i would have two long scars beside my hip bones and would still have all the stretch marks. perhaps i might see what it would cost just to get my tummy button done at some point (sounds vain i know but then i wouldn't have to flatten it down with support underwear). not sure. boooo, it sucks eh! my twins have taken to pulling it and playing with it in the bath - gross!

[groovychick2]

My abs separated too.The doc referred me to a physio soon after the birth and I did the exercises and it went back.Was really painful too! Were your twins really big?You sound like you have been really stretched!!Hope things improve for you.I dont think that you are vain at all.Its depressing when its something you have no control over.

[CarGirl]

My dd2 was huge (I am tiny in height and stature) and 2 hands worth of wrinkly skin here, it really hasn't improved 3 years after my last birth tbh

[lulururu]

yes i had a physio referral as well and it was really helpful although it is still separated but it may take a bit longer. how long did yours take to mend back together? the twins were 8lb11 and 7lb12 at birth so pretty darn big!!! i joke (truthfully) that i was door jamb to door jamb from bum to tum when i was pregnant. i must say my 90year old looking tummy skin was perhaps more like a 180year olds skin at the beginning so it has got better. it was funny, my nana had twins too and i was asking her if her tummy skin had gone back to normal and she replied "not yet it hasn't" dead pan! she's 80. it made me laugh. her tummy is still better than mine at 80! funny! you just have to laugh!

short of a tummy tuck like you say i think we are stuck with bollock tummys! we just need to start a new craze now!

[groovychick2]

I dont think my separation was as bad
as yours-I think it only took a few months.My twins were small compared to yours.5lb12 & 5lb2 but as I am small I think I would have popped if they were any bigger!!! My 1st son was 8lb 12 God forbid if there had been another in there with him!!!Funny what your nana said!!My friend kept moaning about her tummy too[she hasnt had twins] but I've seen it and at least its smooth!!Keep wearing the control pants and hope they will help to flatten it.I remember my physio mentioning them but I didnt pick up on it and have heard since they may have helped at the beginning.Can you get an operation on the NHS due to the separation still being there?

[mumoftwinz]

I like to think Angelina does have the dreaded twinskin belly. Unless she has had it surgically removed of course. Im considerin it, but apparently their is new smart lipo thingy that can do the work of a tummy tuck but less invasive.

[lulururu]

yeah i should get in touch with the physio again and sort something out a bit more and at least make sure i've done ALL i can do from my end. i've moved to new zealand from london so things work a bit differently here and unfortunately i'd have to go private to have any surgery done and thats the equivalent of a good house deposit here so i think i'll just keep it all under wraps as in tight undie wraps!!!

mumoftwinz - i like the sound of the smart new lipo thing thats not as invasive. the less instruments involved the better!

[groovychick2]

Does anyone know more about how this smart lipo thing works?

[loudmouthmum]

NOW I'm worried lol. It took me 4 1/2 years to get back into a size 10 after number 3 (none multiples), and just as I did, I've fallen pregnant with the splodges. I found out a week ago that I'm 13 (now 14) weeks pregnant with twins. Am I to take it that I should give up hope of ever having a waistline again? I'm already up to a size 14...

[lulururu]

mmmm.. loudmouthmum, i'm smaller than i ever was before i was pregnant, think its all the breastfeeding, forgetting to eat and running around, but the skin. no good there but i know lots of other twin mums with no stretchmarks or excess skin and some of them had big babies/went to full term too. hope you are blessed as one of those people!

[neverknowinglyunderdressed]

namechanging mumoftwinz here.....righto update on the Angelina issue.....is apparently in hiding due to severe body image issues after twins! And is on diet to lose weight. Or conspiracy theory is in hiding after tummy tuck!

Lulurur ...The laser tuck - '1cms scar, Smart Lipo MPX is for average weight women who want to get rid of their mummy tummy, costs 2k, fat is melted by laser then sucked out gently' and is supposed to tighten skin. Minimal down time.

Yes I admit it i get all my info from Grazia! I think im tempted by this - wonder if it would really work on my pouch? I dont think diet and exercize is going to cut it.

[tigerlily1980]

My twins are now five years old and I must say that my twinskin is looking a lot better these days!

I am a size 8, and although I was big, I didn't put on masses of weight during pregnancy despite having two babies weighing 6 and a half pounds each! I didn't have a single stretch mark at full term so thought I would get a good deal in the body stakes and would ping back into shape!

How wrong could I be? I lost my pregnancy weight a bit too quickly and was left with a saggy overhang which I had to tuck into my trousers, a mass of stretchmarks and a weird belly button with no definition round the edges. With clothes on I looked normal but beneath the clothes lurked an 80 year old granny!

Five years on, the stretchmarks have faded and shrunk to small white lines that can only be seen in daylight. My belly button is still strange. I don't have an overhang but I do have saggy skin, and when I sit down I am wrinkled. I don't look 80 anymore...perhaps 75, LOL!

I did have real body issues for 4 years after the twins were born. I still wanted the body that I had prior to their birth and felt like a stranger in my skin if that makes sense.

Last year I went down the beach with some mums from the twins school. I wore a kaftan to hide my scars..however the other mums (who didn't have twins) all wore bikinis and had stretchmarks and sagging skin just like I did, but weren't as conscious as me. It is sad to admit this but I kind of felt blessed with the scarring I have, and at the same time felt stupid that I had thought myself to be the only person in this predicament!!

I actually ditched the kaftan on a later trip and now wear bikinis.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the scars won't ever totally fade but you will learn to accept them and realise that you aren't the only one.

[kitstwins]

Although it sounds wonderful, I can't see how the smartlipo would 'tighten' the loose skin. I can understand it melting the fat away, but I think a lot of the problems with 'twin skin' stem not from fat but from the extreme/fast stretching the skin undergoes - the fact that you grow so quickly rather than the size you grow to is what seems to b*gger the collagen and elastin. In fact, having ruminated about this at length (can you tell I am sadly obsessed with finding the magic cure!!) I actually think that smartlipo might actually make twin skin WORSE. It would remove the fat but not tighten the skin and so you'd just have the empty, baggy skin left at the end without the fat padding it out. HORROR!!

The only answer is probably a tummy tuck with a chaser of 'smartlipo' thrown in for good measure. But of course the downside of a tummy tuck is grisly abdominal surgery AND a much longer scar (hip to hip) than the standard c section scar. Which seems a fairly grim prospect.

As for Angelina Jolie, I cracked up when I read that Grazia article and the spurious spectulation from mean-lipped Daily Mail hacks. Clearly none of them have had twins. Could not the simple reason for her absence at various film festivals in the last month be possibly due to the fact that she has newborn twins, abdominal surgery and post-natal bleeding to recover from. She MAY be recovering from a tummy tuck whilst simultaneously solving the Third World feeding crisis, but I would bet my double breast pump that instead she's probably nailed to a sofa with a squawking baby either side of her. "Welcome to my world, Angelina" - about the only time in my life I will ever be able to write that!!

K

[neverknowinglyunderdressed]

I must admit I kind of read about celebrities with twins and then realize i shouldnt have. I mean how can you sympathise when she has an army of cooks, nannies and cleaners.

[neverknowinglyunderdressed]

Angelina apparently had a mommytuck at the time of the section. Best way really. Wish i had thought of that.

I hate the secrecy tho - i'd rather these slebs came out and said what they had done. Rather than parading around and lying about 'fast metabolism' and 'good genes'. It makes it so difficult for the rest of us.

[danyfree]

Ladies - my skin is not too bad but the bump I hav 7 weeks after delivery is so high up - is this normal? Its firm and sticks out, I'm about to stop toast and start excercise but wonder whether anyone else knows this "high bump" thing?

[Frangipani74]

I knew I shouldn't have clicked on this thread, wrinkly patch size of palm - if only. I am reaching for the bio oil whilst mopping up the tears - I had been naively hoping it would just go back to normal. My stomach is a badge of honour that will not be paraded around any changing rooms or beaches.
I had been feeling smug for most of pregnancy until I got to last week and suddenly the stretch marks appeared.
I asked my husband do I look awful now, do you still find me attractive - his answer "We'll get you some more bio oil." - has not done wonders for my confidence.
WhereTheWildThingsWere you summed it up nicely.