1000-LB. Sisters star Tammy Slaton's drooping skin needs cutting and stitching back up when her weight loss plateaus, a plastic surgeon has said.
But he warns that if the TLC star gains weight after any lengthy and pricy surgical skin removal treatments, it'll all be a waste of time.
Since making her debut 1000-Lb. Sisters in January 2020, Tammy Slaton lost a massive 300 pounds in weight.
The 36-year-old once tipped the scales at 717 pounds, and through the first three seasons, she was filmed managing her food addiction.
During season four, TLC began charting Tammy’s second stint at an Ohio food rehab clinic and her ongoing weight loss battle.
Kentucky-based Tammy followed up with gastric bypass surgery in June.
Now weighing around 400 pounds, Tammy posted a couple of post-surgery selfies on her Instagram feed recently.
These showed a close-up of her slimmed-down face – but the full effects of her weight loss meant Tammy's skin drooped under her neck.
One follower commented: "What's wrong with her neck? Is it something medical or excess loose skin due to weight loss?"
Another said: "It’s been amazing seeing your consistency within your health journey. Soon enough you’ll be approved for skin removal and just know we are all rooting for you! Proud of you!"
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Loose skin is usually caused by losing lots of weight quickly and is said to happen more to weight-loss surgery patients.
One way to get rid of the excess skin is via plastic surgery.
In an exclusive interview, plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Westreich told The U.S. Sun: “If you lose around 100 pounds or more like Tammy has, then you wind up with extra skin.
“After the initial extreme weight loss, skin presents underneath the chin as seen in Tammy’s Instagram photos.
“After bariatric surgery and extreme weight loss, it’s usual to have extra skin, since it can’t shrink enough.
“The fat loss and the extra skin are no different than wearing old clothes.
“Obviously your clothes from when you were heavier will hang off your body, and skin is no different.
“Skin can shrink, but only by a variable degree.
“If you put your clothes in the dryer and shrink them, they’ll only shrink so much and can be still too big.
“Most patients like Tammy would probably get a lot of issues with the arms and the lower abdomen.
"She would have issues with the legs – with the skin above the knees.
“Usual skin tightening procedures wouldn’t work in these instances.
“For Tammy’s face, she would get a facelift or a direct neck lift where you cut out skin from the center of the neck before closing it up.
“A neck lift would take between four to five hours and cost around $35,000.
“For Tammy’s lower abdomen, this procedure would be abdominoplasty, which takes two to three hours and costs around $20,000.
“For the knees, she would need a leg lift, which could take two hours and cost around $15,000.
“The skin on Tammy’s arms would be taken care of by a Brachioplasty.
"This can take two hours and cost around $15,000 to remove the extra skin."
This totals $85,000 – and the doctor warns it could be wasted money.
He says: “If she gains weight again after any skin surgeries, the skin will stretch again and she’ll be back to where she started.”
During her years of food addiction, Tammy endured two rehab stays before undergoing gastric bypass surgery – or bariatric surgery – in June.
This is an operation on the digestive system which helps people lose weight quickly in extreme situations.
It works by creating a small pouch at the top of the stomach, meaning it takes less food to make you feel full and you'll absorb fewer calories from the food you eat.
In previous scenes during season 4, Tammy reached her goal weight of 550 pounds to allow her to get the surgery.
But after weighing in at 534 pounds, within months the reality star was spotted heading back to her home after a trip to McDonald's.
Tammy has also been seen out on her scooter, vaping, and shopping for Twinkies and other treats at Walmart with her sister Amy.
Dr, Westreich said: “Most patients that undergo bariatric procedures get a lot of counseling for the skin area as well.
“Tammy would have expected this type of sagging skin."
However, Tammy cannot get a skin tightening operation until her weight has "equalized."
Dr. Westreich said: “This means waiting until you’re evened down and not losing a significant amount of weight anymore.
“That time frame is different for everybody.
“The entire process is hard for patients because you’re also treating obesity.
“If you've lost several hundred pounds, it’s really worth it having to manage all this.
“The surgeon would usually do a reasonable amount of the skin surgeries together.
"They may not do all of them but, usually, they would do the abdominoplasty, leg lift, and maybe the arms.
"The face usually gets done separately.
"The main scarring would be on the arms as that's the hardest one to hide.
"The chin or face scar will be obviously visible, but that's usually pretty well hidden.
"I don't think any of these skin surgeries are particularly difficult.
"I think that the arm lift would leave the worst scar that's very visible for Tammy.
“From a recovery standpoint, the abdominoplasty and the leg lifts would probably be two to three weeks of recovery.
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“With regards to infections of the skin in the meantime, there wouldn’t be any more risk.
“Tammy wouldn’t be getting any more skin infections with the rolls of skin she has than when she was heavier.”
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