TLC
1000-Lb. Best Friends’ Vannessa Cross Gets Approved for Skin Removal Surgery Amid Dramatic Weight Loss
Major accomplishment. 1000-Lb. Best Friends star Vannessa Cross was approved for skin removal surgery amid her dramatic weight loss.
During the Wednesday, March 8, season 2 finale episode of the TLC show, Vannessa, 44, expressed discomfort from her excess skin while at a doctor’s appointment.
“Since I lost the weight, my vag is all just skin,” she said in a confessional, explaining that there is a lot of loose skin between her legs. “It looks like I have a three-inch penis with these big old fat balls.”
While talking to Dr. Amy Alderman, Vannessa discussed undergoing a panniculectomy. The procedure removes stretched out and excess fat and overhanging skin from the abdomen. She was also told she could have a monsplasty done, which removes extra skin and fatty tissue from the mons pubis.
The plastic surgeon then explained that Vannessa can also undergo a lower body lift, which combines excess skin all around the lower part of the body.
“They’re gonna have to cut all the way around,” the reality star said in a confessional. “It’s right now kind of incomprehensible because the simple fact that I don’t understand cutting my entire body in half.”
Despite her concerns, Vannessa insisted that she was going to go through with the procedure. “When she talks to me about it, it is scary,” she admitted.
As the doctor’s appointment continued, Alderman explained that Vannessa will have a breast lift and brachioplasty, which is also known as an arm life. After the doctor folded her skin to show what her arm will look like after the procedure, Vannessa became speechless as she noted that it will look like “a typical arm.”
“I’ve never in my life imagined myself looking like that,” she told producers. “Let alone, now it’s an actual possibility.”
The Georgia native continued, “Once I started realizing myself in a mirror, I seen a beautiful, gorgeous queen and by having this surgery it’s gonna make me actually be the person I want to be.”
Fans have watched Vannessa’s impressive weight loss journey play out on the first two seasons of 1000-Lb. Best Friends.
She revealed that she weighed 398 pounds during a March 2022 episode, which was a significant drop from when she was at her heaviest weight that was around 500 pounds.
Vannessa eventually qualified for weight loss surgery, while fans watched her nine-month post op check-in appointment during the February 22, 2023, episode.
“My world has changed completely,” she told bariatric surgeon Dr. Charles Procter about her life after the procedure. “I put a seat belt on. First time, in the front, put a seat belt on and clicked it. All my life I’ve had to put it behind me, click it, and just pull it around.”
Vannessa continued, “I have had so many different breakthroughs. I feel like I’ve been locked up for 20 years — been in prison for 20 years and now I’m free. I get to see things in the world I didn’t get to see.”
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