By Dr. Deanna Lites
WHDH TV - Boston

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When people lose a lot of weight, they're often left with ugly, sagging skin where that weight used to be. Now a plastic surgeon here in the Bay State is using that extra skin to help save lives.

After giving birth to five kids, and gaining an extra 50 pounds along the way, Nina Esile wanted her old body back. But even after losing all her weight, she was still stuck with a belly.

"It seemed the more weight I lost, the more skin I had, so it wasn't going away," Esile said.

Nina talked to plastic surgeon Dr. Beverly Shafer about removing the extra skin around her middle.

That's when she found out that she could get rid of the skin and help someone else. She could donate her extra skin, just like any other organ.

"I've been asked for years by patients, doing all types of surgery, can't this tissue be given to somebody? It's such a waste," Shafer said.

Now for the first time in Massachusetts Dr. Shafer is working with the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation.

Her patients who have lost a lot of weight can donate their excess skin after they've had it surgically removed.

The tissue is then used to help people who need reconstructive surgery.

"I use it a lot for breast reconstruction, for abdominal wall reconstruction, so people who have really large hernias can be repaired with this material," Shafer said.

"I hated it and I thought the fact that some good could come out of something I hated was great," Esile said.

Patients pay for the plastic surgery to remove the skin, but donating it doesn't cost them any extra money. Before the skin is transplanted, a technique is performed so the recipient's body won't reject the skin.