A food-lover who who once tipped the scales at more than 26-stone has spent £15,500 on a complete upper body tuck to get rid of excess folds of SKIN.
Jason Alford, 46, ballooned after a lifetime of bad eating habits and was shamed into losing 14 stone after being told he was too fat to use a family pool while on holiday.
But despite attending a slimming club and cycling up to 120 miles a week to shift the weight, he couldn’t stand the feeling of saggy skin moving around beneath his clothes.
He took drastic action, re-mortgaging his home and using savings to pay £12,500 to have a STONE of skin removed.
The procedure involved having his nipples lopped off and put back in the right place, before having drains inserted into his body to remove excess fluid.
Father-of-two Jason, from Worthing, West Sussex, said: “It has taken quite a lot of time to heal. A lot of skin has gone and it is just amazing really that it is all done now.
“The scarring is quite significant but it was either did I want the excess skin or the scarring.
“I knew what the deal was so it is not a shock to me but people do stare, I think they are just curious to what the scarring is from.”
Jason realised he needed to do something about his weight while on holiday with his wife Stephanie, 46, and children Aron, 18, and 16-year-old daughter Amy.
He was told he couldn’t use the pool unless he was wearing tight swimming shorts, and vowed at that moment to return to the the same camp site in France – only six stone lighter.
Astonishingly, by August 2014 he had trimmed down to 15 stone, but was left with huge amounts of saggy excess skin.
Jason spent a total of £15,500 on two separate six-hour operations at Nuffield Health Chichester Hospital.
He had 4.5lbs of skin removed from his stomach and another 2lbs off each thigh along with a neck lift in February last year.
After losing more weight Jason then spent a further £3,000 to remove 6lbs of excess skin from his chest in November.
Jason, a bank office manager said: “With the chest operation they had to take quite a lot of skin so they actually cut my nipples off and re-attached them.
“It sounds quite gross but thankfully everything went to plan and I haven’t had any problems since.
“It was quite sore at the time and I have to say sometimes there is still some tightness of tissue but that could take over 18 months after surgery for it to stop.
“I went through thoughts early on wondering whether it was all worth it and sometimes I wished I hadn’t had it done, but now I don’t think that at all.”
The healing process can take up to two years but Jason said he feels better than ever – and now weighs a slim 12-and-a-half stone.
Jason added: “It has just become the norm for me now. Life has carried on.
“I am not a different person deep down, I have just got a different shape and much more energy.
“To anyone who feels the same way I felt, and they can afford it, I would say they should go for it.
“People spend the same amount on a new car which loses its worth in a few years, whereas this was a life changing thing for me.
“It is not just about looks for me it was about how I felt when I could feel my skin moving, I would move and my skin would catch up, it made me feel horrible.”
Stephanie said she fully supports Jason’s weight loss journey and Jason said he couldn’t have done it without her.
She thinks he looks great now and can’t believe how much his appearance has changed.
The admin assistant added: “It still surprises me when we meet friends who we haven’t seen for some time and they don’t recognise Jason.
“I have even been asked if I have a new husband. I always say that he is the same person inside but he does have a new body.”
Nuffield Health have been contacted for a comment.
