Harold Massey owns a funeral home. The piano in back is how he escapes. He's a gospel singer. His office packed with pictures of Nashville legends.

After ballooning to 571 pounds a few years ago, Harold lost a hundred pounds on a diet. But he couldn't lose this patch of hanging skin, called a pannus. Doctors wouldn't touch him.

"I was dying, I was dying," he said.

Doctor Detlev Erdmann says Harold had a super-sized pannus. A new term for someone with 22 pounds or more of loose skin.

"Once you've developed a pannus like this, it's literally impossible to get rid of it," said Detlev Erdmann M.D., Ph.D., Plastic Surgeon.

It can cut-off blood flow, lead to back pain, skin ulcers and gangrene. Of the nation's 6.8 million morbidly obese adults, more than 19,000 had similar surgeries over the past two years. That's up from about 200 a decade ago.

"We're dealing with subset of the patient population that's kinda hidden somewhere," said Dr. Erdmann.

"I was scared to death. I was scared to death to have this surgery," said Massey.

Doctor Erdmann cut 40 pounds off Harold, who now weighs 420. That's still big, but he can work for the first time in five years.
Plus, he can move around the keys better, too.

"It's like a new life, it really is."

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