"I was happier being fat"

Paul Thorn lost nearly 17st (107.5 kg) as a result of gastric bypass surgery, but has been left with large amounts of excess skin on his body.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire show that he felt more confident when he was obese - and that he is unhappy that he'll have to wait years to have the loose skin removed.

When Paul Thorn had a gastric bypass procedure in December 2007, he weighed 28st 4lb (179.6 kg).

He says his obesity was the result of an unhealthy lifestyle and taking steroids for asthma when he was a child.

Various diets had had no long-lasting effect and Paul, 25, had to stop taking prescribed weight-loss medication because it gave him high blood pressure.

Paul went on to lose nearly 17st (107.5kg) after the NHS-funded gastric bypass.

But while he feels it was worth having surgery to lose the weight, Paul says he wasn't prepared for the impact on his body.

"Stretchy and horrible"

"When I was big, I just had this filled-out skin," he said.

"But now it's just hanging skin where you've got patches where it's sore underneath.

"It's all stretchy and horrible, and I just don't really want it there."

Paul's mother Jackie understands her son's concerns.

"He looks good with his clothes on, but not without them," she said.

"He looks older than a 70-year old man."

Paul says that he is now so self-conscious about his body, he is reluctant to leave the house, feels unable to get a girlfriend, and has lost contact with his friends.

"It's insecurity, really - what people think and stuff like that," he said.

"It's like being big again. It's really hard."

Two-year wait

Although Paul has now hit his target weight of 11st 5lb (69.8kg) and is confident it will remain stable, he cannot have the excess skin removed on the NHS for at least two years.

Paul, who is unemployed, feels that this wait is unacceptable.

He says he cannot afford the £21,000 he would need to have the excess skin removed privately.

Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust, which has agreed to fund the surgery - involving abdominoplasty - has issued a statement saying: "For clinical reasons, it is not appropriate to undertake the removal of 'excess skin' before a two-year period.

"We need to ensure the BMI of the individual has stabilised and to give the skin time to recover from the weight loss, thus helping to ensure we only need to conduct one intervention."

You can comment on this story on Victoria Derbyshire's blog

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Victoria Derbyshire's blog
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites