Paul was fit, strong and as well as being a former fighter pilot in the air force, he was also a member of the Australian Rowing Team at world championship level. However, despite once being extremely fit and strong, as the decades passed by, due to a metabolic issue his weight kept creeping up no matter what he did. This is his journey of finding solutions, losing the weight, then finding Dr Matthew Peters, Specialist Plastic Surgeon in Brisbane to remove his excess skin, so he could get his life back!
Metabolic Issues
Paul says his metabolic condition meant he overproduced growth hormones so no matter what exercise or how fit he thought he was the weight would just continue to pile on. He finally found a GP who referred him to a specialist who did a blood test and worked it all out. Paul had a minor procedure which stopped him from being hungry all the time. It allowed him to lose weight and get back into rowing training. “Once I worked out it was a metabolic issue and got it solved with treatments… after that I lost around 105kg.” Paul went from being 208kgs to 103kg in a year and a half. “I got back in the boat and within a year, finished up with gold medals at the Aust championship and was in the Qld Rep crew which won gold as well. I lost weight and got fit and strong with it!” As you can imagine after such a massive weight loss, Paul was left with mounds of skin around him.
Paul was referred to Dr Matthew Peters and says he was comfortable with Dr Peters from the very beginning. “So much unknown it’s hard to comprehend what it (the surgery) would be like, but what Dr Peters said, he delivered. That’s very comforting and very rare in the medical industry.”
Paul says Dr Peters was extremely accommodating with regards to considering his lifestyle and love of rowing. “In a row boat you have to stretch forward so Dr Peters modified the procedure to give me a little bit more ‘play’ so my back wasn’t too tight, and so that it wouldn’t impact my rowing. He took the time to understand the rowing mechanics and how that worked and modified the procedure to suit an elite athlete and it’s turned out to be spot on.” So this is like a really personalised service!
Needing a circumferential body lift – Massive Weight Loss and Belt Lipectomy
Dr Peters told Paul straight away that he would need a belt lipectomy, a circumferential body lift due to massive weight loss. At around 10 – 12% body fat, Paul was all skin. Dr Peters ended up getting rid of 2kgs of skin.
Paul says the recovery from the procedure was more overwhelming than he expected. “…lots of Endone for the pain. It was very tight and quite painful for a while. The first 24 hours after the surgery I was drugged, sore, blood bags hanging out everywhere. It was overwhelming – it wasn’t like a broken leg.”
Paul’s 360 degree body lift involved an incision being made all the way around the circumference of his body. In his words, “it’s like being ‘ring barked’.”
However, Dr Peters expertise and artwork, far exceeded Paul’s expectations of his surgeon. “I saw him about half a dozen times while I was in hospital – once or twice a day he was popping in see how I was – he far exceeded my expectations. There were no surprises. He was a great communicator – great and experienced and confident in what he was doing. He had a good regimen of coming in to see me, as well as his nurses. They are well organised… just checking in, inspecting me, taking photos, tracking it all. Impressive – very very good.” Paul was in hospital for five days – he went in on a Monday and left on the Friday.
Paul had two weeks off work and says one of the hardest things was the compression garments! “After surgery I had to wear these spandex panty things, from the rib cage down – they’re especially awful for a guy to wear – for about 3 months – it was a long bloody time!”
After a couple of months Paul was slowly able to get back into rowing training. “It’s Masters rowing for me these days.” Paul’s surgery was four months ago and he says he was able to get back into full training about a month ago.
Paul says he’s done with surgery for life now but we have to agree that his results are amazing.
You can check out Dr Matthew Peters’ website, check out his page on Plastic Surgery Hub or phone 07 3488 8118 to arrange a consultation or find out more.
If you’d like to find out more about the process for having a circumferential body lift with a qualified Specialist Plastic Surgeon in Australia, click here (and we can put a link to the body lift article, and at the bottom of that article let’s put links to our directory).