Former World's Fattest Man Begs For Operation To Remove Folds Of Skin After Losing 40 STONE

British man who at one time was the fattest in the world is pleading with the NHS to remove unsightly flaps of flesh after he managed to lose more than half of his body weight.

Paul Mason, 50, who weighed 60 stone two years ago, underwent a gastric bypass after he was told he otherwise faced certain death.

But he has been left with rolls of unsightly excess skin after the extreme weight loss and now needs an operation to remove the flaps hanging from his stomach, arms and legs.

However, NHS bosses have refused to perform cosmetic surgery, insisting that he needs to maintain a stable weight before it can be considered.

But Mr Mason, who can now leave the house in a motorised wheelchair, said: 'I just need a little bit more help. I feel like I have been just left high and dry. 

'I need this operation to be able to get my life back, to be able to get back into society. It is stopping me living a reasonable life.'

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The former postman, who weighed 70st - or half a tonne - at his heaviest, used to consume 20,000 calories a day, 10 times the normal for the average man. He said his binge eating was spurred by heartbreak in his twenties at the time of his father's death and a deterioration in his mother's health.

He quit his job as a postman when his weight prevented him from completing his deliveries. He was transferred to a sorting office, where he worked until 1989 when he was sacked and imprisoned for six months for stealing from customers' letters.


The former postman used to consume 20,000 calories a day -10 times the normal for the average man - and sometimes went naked to avoid having to get dressed

Mr Mason spent around £30,000 a year on food and sometimes went naked to avoid having to get dressed.

Then in 2009, Mr Mason, from Ipswich, underwent a £30,000 operation on the NHS at Chichester Hospital which drastically reduced the amount he could eat.

Now his frame has shrunk so much that he has been left with swathes of loose skin.

Surgery can be used to remove the excess skin but as the treatment is for cosmetic and not clinical reasons, it is not automatically available on the NHS.

Mr Mason will have to pay around £1,500 to £6,000 if he wants to have the surgery privately depending on the amount of flesh that needs to be removed.