Have you read the sticky
here?
Three of us have posted our experiences. I'm 5 years out, and belienve it was the best thing I've ever done for myself (aside from losing the weight in the first place). I hated my stomach, and I'm sure that I would not have maintained the weight loss or worked as hard at staying in shape without having had surgery. It's very personal- some people can live with the skin, some can't. For me it was the only choice.
The pain, healing time and rehab were nowhere near as long as I had epected. I was doing light workouts within 3 weeks and back at work in a very physical job at two weeks. I think it helped a lot that I was in really good physical condition going into the surgery.
Mel