Plastic Surgery

If your pregnancy or weight gain has stretched your skin to the point where you can't tighten it with exercise or diet, you might consider plastic surgery.  Tummy tuck or the medical name abdominoplasty is a major surgical procedure that will tighten up your abdominal muscles and give you a smoother, flatter stomach.  

There are several different types of tummy tucks.  When you visit the surgeon for your first consultation, he will let you know which procedure is best for you.  It will depend on the extent of fat deposits in your abdominal region.  Your skin tone will also be assessed.  

A heathy person in good physical shape is a good candidate for a traditional tummy tuck.  A big weight loss that leaves a lot of belly sagging would also be an acceptable candidate.  Abdominoplasty can be done under general or local anesthesia.  You will be completely asleep with general anesthesia.  Local anesthesia is used with some sedation.  You will have a long incision through the bikini-line area.  This is usually done hip to hip and is a permanent scar.  The navel is cut away from the surrounding tissue.  It will be stitched back into place.  The skin will be removed from the abdominal wall up to the ribs.  This lifts a skin flap which reveals the vertical muscles in your abdomen.  The muscles will be pulled together really tight and stitched into their new position.  You will than have a firm abdomen and narrow waistline. 

You will probably need to stay in the hospital for a few days.  Medication will be given for any pain or soreness.  You should walk as soon as you can handle it.  When you feel comfortable enough, you'll need to exercise to gain strength in your abdominal muscles.  Your scar should fade more and more as the months go more.  It won't totally go away.  When a patient has a large amount of excess skin around their sides and hip area, they might need an added procedure.  This is called an extended tummy tuck.  The incision will go around to the back of the hips and the lower back.  This will get rid of extra folds of skin or love handles. 

A circumferential tummy tuck is very intensive.  This is usually done on people that have loose and hanging skin around their entire body.  This can happen after gastric bypass surgery.  An incision will be made all around the waistline.  The surgeon will remove the excess skin, fat and muscle.  He will also lift the outer thighs and buttocks.  A new navel will be made.  The downside of this operation is that it will take longer to perform and there could be more loss of blood.  The recovery time is longer than other tummy tucks. 

Another less difficult procedure is a mini tummy tuck.  This is a good type of surgery to consider if you have extra fat and lost muscle elasticity contained only in the area below the belly button.  A small incision is made right above the pubic area.  This way the muscle can be repaired and extra skin redraped.  The navel doesn't usually have to be repositioned.  Liposuction can be used along with the mini tummy tuck to reshape the abdomen.  There is a mini tummy tuck called the endoscopic tummy tuck.  This is done through some small incisions using an endoscope or lighted tube.  There isn't as much bleeding, swelling or bruising with this type of surgery.  Endoscopic tummy tuck is referred to as scarless tummy tuck. 

Always make sure you tell your surgeon your complete health history.  It is very important to tell him if you smoke.  There have been studies found that smoking right before you have surgery can diminish blood flow to the heart.  Not enough oxygen will get to your heart.  If you don't want to quit smoking than stop for about 24 hours before your surgery.