To think excess skin removal should be available on the NHS?

[TheGoodEnoughWife]

I know being fat is seen as being self inflicted although I don't agree that it is and that people over eating should be taken as seriously as people under eating. But that isn't necessarily my point here..,

I am very overweight (about 6st overweight but am tall) and one of the things in the back of my mind is that if I lose weight my saggy skin will be awful. The reality is my 'strain' on the NHS being overweight has the potential to be great - surely encouragement to lose weight would cost the NHS less in the long run?
It would be helpful maybe to me and others who need to lose a lot of weight to know that treatment for excess skin would be available to them?

Now I may get flamed about self inflicted and so on but if I drive a car badly and crash I would be treated on the NHS, if I drink like a fish and cause myself illness I would be treated on the NHS, if I go about extreme sports and hurt myself I also would get treated on the NHS.
(I don't do any of those things!)

Any one see where I am coming from?

I lost 5 stone by myself and loose skin wasnt nearly as bad as i thought and regardless its for your health and quality of life and how you feel in clothes and such im sure your better off slim and healthy and happy rather than carrying all that weight

You don't save money from eating healthily , junk food is so much cheaper than healthy cuts of fish meat fruit and veg , there is an organisation called OA in the UK for food addicts and ppl with eating disorders

OP don't think for definite you will get loose skin, I've lost that amount (twice!) and not had any problems. I know people who have lost 10 stone and don't have it.

YABU.

It sounds to me from all of your posts a bit like you're using "oh but I might have excess/saggy skin" as an excuse for not losing the weight.

You may or may not have excess skin, if you lose weight slowly and excercise excess skin should be minimal.
My mum lost 5 stone over a year she's barely 5 foot tall and is 60, she has teeny bingo wings and looks better than she has done in years

I get that I may not have excess skin and yes I am probably am using it as a possible excuse. But the life of an over eater is a strange one although I only speak for me!

And every single person who has said about how NHS money could be better spent - I am making the connection with the increase strain on the NHS from people who are overweight (lots of studies point to weight being a factor in illness/joint issues) to reducing that burden by giving people who are overweight an incentive.

Surgery is a massive commitment and undertaking and I can imaging surgery to remove skin has a very long recovery time. It is really worth looking at addressing your over eating and making changes to your lifestyle first.
I know it's an easy thing to say but surely the health benefits of losing weight should be incentive enough and cosmetic surgery can bring it's own problems

I am making the connection with the increase strain on the NHS from people who are overweight (lots of studies point to weight being a factor in illness/joint issues) to reducing that burden by giving people who are overweight an incentive.

Why should the state give free cosmetic surgery as an incentive to lose weight?

Being healthier and living longer.....if that isnt enough of an incentive for anyone then I dont know what to say.

Surely saving yourself from illnesses related to being overweight should be enough of an incentive for you to loose weight.

Don't rely on the NHS to come to your rescue, they may not have the funds because they have overspent on cosmetic procedures.

Absolutely not. YABU OP. I need to lose a considerable amount of weight and will likely be left with loose skin. Why should my local health service incur those costs when I am the way I am because of a lack of self-control? In the case of the NHS specifically, why further burden an already overstretched system?

I would support increased access to therapists and nutritionists but not this, OP. Madness.

I totally understand the point you are making about the burden being obese puts on the NHS, and definitely feel more should be done to help with the MH side of this however there are so many benefits to losing weight that should be incentive enough (as you state less illness/joint problems/diabetes) then the NHS saying if you lose x amount we will remove your excess skin,
You need to lose weight for you, for your health not based on the fact that you will get something free out of it, again this is where more should be done within the mental health field.

I think there is a line between expecting the NHS to help and making excuses for oneself. I am overweight. I am slowing losing it. I will be saggier than I would like. Tough shit really.

You can donate your excess skin to burn centers. I never understood why you couldn't enter into some sort of arrangement to have the surgery covered if you were going to donate it.

I agree with losing weight for the health benefits but people aren't are they? (Including me - even though the health concerns scare the crap out of me)

So yy to those saying more mh help for people who are over weight.

Annie - do you really think being over weight is a case of lack of self control? Or is a lack of self control over food intake a massive issue that is difficult to understand never mind fix?

Yes, I do think being overweight is attributed to a lack of self control although, as I thought I mentioned but apparently didn't, there is usually an underlying mental health issue. That is The reason I recommended increased access to therapists.

In my case, I binge to deal with anxiety and depression issues - both of which are undiagnosed and untreated.

In an ideal world the nhs would fund this but things are just so tight. If it's Causing physical problems then it should definitely be funded though.

Although this thread just highlight once again the disparity in nhs services throughout the country. I had high blood pressure when I was pregnant and was on medication for it. Since giving birth it's become clear that I was likely sufferinf with High BP prior to getting pregnant and the cause is likely my weight. In the appointment with the GP he said all this then put me on BP meds. He then said I was 3 stone under the threshold for any sort of assistance with weight loss (this despite being 5stone overweight) he then gave me some leaflets and that was it.

I went from 9 stone to 16 stone and back to 9 stone in 2 years when I had my ds (almost 10) the excess skin bothered me a lot the first year, every year it gets better tho. My gp said I should have a tummy tuck about 8 years ago, she said she'd send me to a panel and that I'd 100% get funded. I didn't want to because of the risk factors involved. Tbh you can hardly tell in clothes. It's not worth the risk. If you're tall as well 6 stone isn't much, I'm only 5"2. I personally don't think the nhs should do cosmetic surgery unless it's on the face from things like burns and operations

Posted too soon. My point was that I can have the treatment for the consequences of my obesity but no offer of anything for the actual causes of it. Luckily I can afford slimming world or whatever other weight loss programme there is but not everyone can. And as others have said the mh around obesity and overeating really should be addressed

Excess skin is a cosmetic issue

It's not always a cosmetic issue, as a PP stated it can cause health issues due to infections, etc. I know of someone who died of septicaemia via infected sores on loose skin that kept chafing and tearing. It can be a very serious problem.

A family member has lost 10st, slowly and with exercise, but had loose skin. She lost the weight with no support from the NHS and was refused surgery to deal with the excess skin even though it had her to the point of serious depression (she was offered antidepressants instead). She recently had surgery as a private patient to remove it. It cost her £5k at a hospital in Manchester and she says it's the best money she's ever spent and the difference in her personality and mood is amazing. She's like a whole new woman and it's wonderful to see her so happy. She showed me her scars and they're nowhere near as bad I thought they'd be. One vertical line in the middle, around 10cm long, and a horizontal line just above her hips around 30cm long. The edges/joins of them are very neat and while they're still mildly red at the minute, her surgeon has assured her that they'll fade to silvery white eventually.

I think there should be an option to have it co-funded by the NHS as the weight loss will save money in the long run. If it was done 50/50 based on £5k a surgery then £2500 is a lot less than they'd spend on treating that person for long term health complications related to obesity.

I am on the listfor weight loss surgery and have started saving fir skin removal now, in reality i wont ever be able to afford it. I am worried about it but want to live. I wish the nhs woukd support people more with weigh loss and food addiction and naybe it would never have been an issue.

Sorry its cliffmas but its not quite that simple. I lost 10 stone with slimming world (7 stone of it in 7 months) and i got gallstones. It was caused by losing weight too fast Two doctors and a surgeon told me this. I could NOT control the speed at which it came off.

I had ten months of being taken back and forth to casualty in EXCRUTIATING pain. Doctors coming out to give me morphine injections ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,prescribing me morphine pills. When i got a letter telling me i would have to wait another year for a gall bladder removal i actually considered suicide. After all the effort id made they were happy to leave me in that amount of pain.

My parents paid for a private consultation. It was with a surgeon who also worked for the NHS. He was pleased with my weight loss and appalled at how id been treated . But the cost of the gallstone op privately + possible extra aftercare were i to get an infection would cost too much,
I kept having attacks Finally an appointment came through to see an NHS consultant. It happened to be the same one i had a private consultation with. he promised i would be on an operating table in six weeks.

Five weeks later he removed my gall bladder.

This all happened in 2002/2003.
I owe him a lot If it wasnt for him i would have been waiting for another year. I could not eat SOLID food Thats how bad it was.

Sorry OP but YABU, it's like you are saying that the nhs should essentially bribe people to lose weight by offering to get rid of saggy skin while in the meantime life saving treatments are refused to other patients due to underfunding. All because being healthier,having more energy and potentially a longer life just isn't enough reason for some people to even try to lose weight.
And where does it end, should the nhs offer free both to smokers who might have developed extra wrinkles from years of smoking if they quit? Should be give away free cars to alcoholics as an "incentive" to stay sober. I am aware these are ludicrous suggestions and I don't mean to be unkind but in my mind it's as absurd to offer a cosmetic procedure on such an already stretched budget...

Sorry YABU,
until an imaginary time in the future when all those with life threatening or compromising illnesses are treated quickly and competently, and all emergency A and E patients are able to get the tratment they need without waiting, operations for excess skin trimming should not be available on the NHS.

I feel the same about other cosmetic type treatments, ie breast reduction/ enlargement.

If l wanted a cosmetic treatment l expect to have to save for it or go without.

Dont want to do excess skin removal ............FINE.

But you do NOT leave someone in excrutiating pain AFTER they have made such a massive effort to improve their health.