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Dr. Dennis Hurwitz is known the world over for helping thousands of patients refine the look of their bodies. Every patient of Dr. Hurwitz receives the highest quality care and emotional support to facilitate the best possible outcome of your procedure. While renowned for his work with breast surgery and facial surgery, Dr. Hurwitz is the innovator of the total body lift, a procedure used to trim excess skin and fat off patients of major weight loss surgery. Located in Pennsylvania, the Hurwitz Center for Plastic Surgery is a state-of-the-art medical practice affiliated with Magee Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital.
Below are candid stories told by patients of Dr. Hurwitz about their experience with weight loss surgery and plastic surgery. For more information, contact our Pennsylvania medical center today.
Jennifer's Story
“While I was going through the loss of weight after my gastric bypass surgery I didn’t think much about all the skin that may be left. Of course, I knew there was a possibility that there will be some skin – I had heard vague stories about people who had to have surgery to remove it. But that may not happen to me – I was working out (lifting weights) religiously three nights a week to keep everything tightened up as I lost weight. Even if there was some excess skin, it didn’t really matter. The important thing was that I would lose a lot of weight, and I would look so much better. And I would certainly be much, much healthier. What more could I want!
“Little did I know then, that there would be massive amounts of skin that I would have to deal with at the end of the weight loss period. What I had thought would be the end of my life-long struggle with a large body that would not respond to my many attempts to change it, proved to be the beginning of a whole new, and equally restrictive, problem. Having lost 198 pounds, I found I was not as happy as I thought I would be. My face looked so old – I had jowls and what I referred to as a turkey neck. And my stomach! It hung in a huge fold in front of me – I developed frequent rashes under it, it was so heavy, and in the summer, it made me very hot. I was wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts all summer. I was happy only as long as my clothes covered my body. I had been looking forward to swimming at our swim club but I soon found that that would not be possible. I could just imagine the stares I would get when people saw the immense amount of flesh sagging all up and down my legs and hanging from my arms. I didn’t even want my husband to see me uncovered. Was this why I went through two years of deprivation – so that I would have to go around all covered up? How disappointing! Then, too, I feared the comments from those who felt gastric bypass surgery was wrong, unhealthy, and quackery – they would have physical evidence that the current weight loss ‘fad’ was not what it was made out to be. I had, indeed, exchanged one awful problem for a different, and very grotesque, problem!
“It was very hard to pick which part of my body I wanted to do the most. None of it looked good — ‘good’ wasn’t even a word that could be used in the same sentence with my body, my body looked just horrible. Imagine losing almost 200 pounds and still being so terribly ashamed. How could I ever let anyone see my body in its present state?
“When I went for my consultation, Dr. Hurwitz took many pictures —that was probably the hardest part. I was so very self-conscious about my body. I didn’t even like having my husband look at me naked and here was a total stranger taking pictures of every inch of me! I got through it, and he didn’t seem to be as shocked as I thought he would be. He was so nice, and I found that I could talk to him. He told me that there was a lot he could do — I could have a whole new body. If I wanted to proceed with the surgery on my stomach, we would certainly try to get insurance coverage, but he explained that I would not be satisfied with just stomach surgery. To make it look right, I would also have to have a lower body lift, which would include my legs and hips. He didn’t like to do one without the other. It just wouldn’t be pleasing to the patient. When I left his office, I felt so hopeful, and I wanted so badly to have the surgery. My husband strongly encouraged me to go ahead with it…It was time for me to think of myself. He didn’t think I would ever feel ‘finished’ without it. In a few days, with a little further encouragement, I called and set a surgery date!”
“It’s what enabled me to get off this self-fulfilling cycle of unhealthy eating and yo-yo dieting. Weight loss surgery is often called a tool. How well you learn to use that tool is up to you.” – Jennifer
Elisa's Story
“One year and four days post-op and I have lost 102 pounds and 66 INCHES!!! I have lost as many inches as I am tall!! I had a consult with my plastic surgeon, Dr. Dennis Hurwitz, about having a tummy tuck around to the back, arm reduction, and breast implants. I am just looking forward to the approximately 20 pounds the tucks will remove. I was kind of discouraged that I weigh 160 but then when you consider the extra skin, it's pretty good. So after the tucks I will be right where I wanted to be. People don't believe me now when they find out what I weigh; they think it's much less. I may eventually go for a thigh lift too because as summer is getting here I am finding I do not want to wear shorts because they are so jiggly! But overall I am very happy with the results and would definitely do it again in a heartbeat!” – Elisa
Dana's Story
“In 2001, I had the gastric bypass surgery and lost approximately 265 pounds. I met Dr. Hurwitz a year ago and have had three surgeries: the tummy tuck and lower body lift, a breast reduction and upper body lift, and then the arm reduction, all in a nine to ten month period. I have gone from a size 4X or 32 to a Medium/10-12. The surgeries have not been easy; there have been complications-swellings, infections, etc., but I would gladly do it all over again.” – Dana
Suzanne's Story
After dieting off 55 pounds and another surgeon performed lipoplasty, 38 year old Suzanne complained about loose lower body skin. She lamented that “I had to tuck my rolls of flab back into my clothes when I got dressed. When I jogged, my excess skin flapped all over”. Since she would not return to sports and exercising at the gym, she was regaining her weight. After an abdominoplasty and lower body lift, Suzanne wears shorts and skirts with confidence. She attends lunch hour aerobics class and works out with a trainer four times a week. She is more physically active and her body is more toned than when she was in her twenties. - Suzanne
Jill's Story
“While fairly well-read /studied on all of these counts, I honestly never thought of myself as a serious candidate for elective surgery: in the end, the overwhelming day-to-day unhappiness with my body – despite a hardcore work-out ethic and small pre-surgery size –overrode what I formerly considered a needless vanity. But the significant scar and tissue from carrying and removing huge fibroids (“nearly the size of a basketball”) was also beginning to erode my self-confidence across the board. I’m told I have a ways to go to full recovery, but I’m already feeling and looking so much better.” - Jane |
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