Susan - After Weightloss Surgery

After losing 150 pounds, Susan came to plastic surgeon Dr. Joseph Fodero to get rid of her excess skin. In this clip, Susan talks about her surgical experience and how Dr. Fodero helped Susan achieve something that she thought was not possible. Susan had been to three other plastic surgeons in the area, and chose Dr. Fodero. She says she is "thrilled" with the results.

SUSAN: I’m Susan Watson. I came to Dr. Fodero two years after I’d had gastric bypass and massive weight loss. I lost 150 pounds. I found my way into a gym and started to exercise and work out, and really tone my body and make it very fit and very strong, but a certain realization came that I had lots of excess skin, and there was nothing more I could do about it. I had been to three other plastic surgeons who were all considered the big guns in the region, and there are some very good people in this area, so there’s a lot to pick from, and the recommendation from each of them were multiple procedures. Dr. Fodero presented the most conservative view in terms of staging. The other doctors were willing to combine several procedures into one operation. He didn’t think that was advisable, and after having been through them, I’ve got to admit that his recommendation for staging was what really made recovery such a positive experience for me. I’m thrilled with the results. You can see—I almost have a six-pack. All of the work that I do is visible. He removed every bit of excess skin. I’ve got a tiny waist, and a very thin, athletic body, which was something I didn’t ever envision was possible. After we did the lower body lift, a few months later we did something called a brachioplasty, which was the removal of excess skin in the arm. I had worked very hard on my arms to get good muscle contours. Dr. Fodero did a breast augmentation for me as well, because I had lost so much breast mass with my body fat, and it was a procedure I actually did not come looking for. I wanted him to remove all the excess skin, but I wasn’t really up for having anything placed in my body. He encouraged me to consider it, and in fact it was one of the best things I did, because it really finished me physically in a way that I hadn’t anticipated would mean so much. He really convinced me that I could have a phenomenal body, and I hadn’t really thought about that as a potential outcome. And he worked with me, and I do have a phenomenal body now. I look better than I did in my twenties, and I look better than a lot of twenty-year-olds. So he really helped me finish a process that started with being invisible. When you’re morbidly obese, men don’t look at you. Culturally, you’re looked down upon. I managed to reverse that with my weight loss surgery and with my exercise, but Dr. Fodero took me the rest of the way, and helped me achieve something that I never thought was possible. I meet with lots of other weight loss surgery patients, because we share the personal experience, and I recommend Dr. Fodero over any other surgeon in this area, absolutely.