By ABC-7 Reporter Veronique Masterson

EL PASO -- It's a surgical procedure some doctors say is becoming more common.  And it's something most insurance companies still don't cover.

One Las Cruces woman wants to shed light on what happened after her bariatric surgery.  Gina Madison is the proud mother of a 5-year-old little boy.

She's lived in Las Cruces for 15 years and says she's been obese most of her life.  "I didn't know what it felt like to be full. I didn't have that sensation."

She says she was a chubby child.  After high school she became obese and stayed like that through her twenties...her heaviest being 260 pounds.

Four years ago she underwent bariatric surgery.  "I was a single mother and I was really scared to death I was going to have a stroke in my apartment one day and fall down on the ground and my son would be there alone and he wouldn't know how to call anyone and no one would be there for him," she explained.

Gina lost the weight. "The first year it was awesome. I felt fantastic. I could fit into all these different clothes I could never fit into before."

And her hypertension went down, but now Gina's left with a different problem.  "I look in the mirror and I have like just this loathing of myself of what I look like. I feel like a monster!"

At 145 pounds, Gina is weighed down by pounds of extra skin.  "I don't want to be a super model, I don't want to look like Barbie, I just want to look normal...My belly looks like melting wax, the skin is just falling off of my body.  My breasts, I used to have nice large breasts; now I have empty bags or empty pockets that hang on my chest."

That's where the services of plastic surgeon Doctor Scot Martin come in.  "Everything you're describing we hear on a weekly basis and that's where plastic surgery comes in and taking care of the excess skin."

Dr. Martin shows us his plans for Gina's breasts.  "Essentially, what we're going to do is get it up to its normal position and then reduce the skin a little bit."

Then her belly.  "The sides out here, we'll take the incision back as far as we can and this we'll pull in a little bit."

For a breast lift, implants, and an abdominoplasty, or tummy tuck, the cost is $10,000 to $12,000.  It's not covered by most insurance companies because they consider it cosmetic surgery.

Dr. Martin says there are more than just cosmetic reasons for the removal of excess skin after bariatric surgery.  The skin on skin contact could develop infections and can cause pain.

"So they lose the weight, but now they're left with this excess skin.  They almost feel worse after the surgery then they did before, which is amazing...It is a hot topic right now because of the number of patients that actually need the surgery to be performed. Twelve years ago, 15 years ago these types of patients weren't that common," explained Dr. Martin.

Gina just hopes not too many more women will have to live trapped in their bodies.  "There are other options there are things that can be done and I think if enough people rally together and push this and really fight for it, I think there can be change made."

Gina is now on a crusade to get insurance companies to cover both surgeries and above all wants to make sure patients who undergo bariatric surgery understand what they're getting into.

Tuesday at 10, we're in the operating room as Gina goes under the knife. And we'll show you how Gina looks now.