What is a tummy tuck?
Abdominoplasty or abdominal dermolipectomy is the surgical technique to remove excess skin and fat from the abdomen, treat flaccidity, improve the waist and flatten the belly.
In which cases is it indicated?
With age, pregnancy, weight loss… the abdomen will accumulate fat and suffer flaccidity and sagging. Pregnancies can also affect the abdominal muscles causing a separation of the rectus abdominis muscles (known as the six pack muscles or “chocolate bar”) and the appearance of hernias in the navel.
This separation of the muscles is called diastasis recti and causes a weakness in the muscle wall giving the abdomen a bulging, toneless, sagging appearance. The abdominoplasty allows to repair it, making some muscular stitches as an internal corset, to reinforce the abdominal wall, to reinforce the muscular tone and to narrow the waist. If there is an umbilical hernia, it can also be repaired at the same time.
Abdominoplasty can be combined with liposuction when there is excess fat that requires a modeling of the area, to better define the abdomen and waist.
What does the technique consist of?
Abdominoplasty removes all the excess skin and fat from the navel to the pubis, through an incision at the level of the pubis that goes from the iliac crest on one side to the other side. Subsequently, the remaining abdominal skin is tightened downward, and the navel is placed in its new position.
The treatment also improves the aesthetics of the navel, going from a sad, horizontal navel to a more youthful, taut, vertical navel. The incision is long but is camouflaged under the underwear or bikini, and if proper care is followed (avoid the sun, scar reducing patches, etc.), over time is very concealed.
It is an operation that is performed under general anesthesia, hospitalization and preoperative tests must be performed.
How is the recovery?
The patient must perform relative rest for a month, that is, no sports and do not carry weights, although after a week she can walk. It is necessary to wear an abdominal binder for a month. The postoperative period is quite similar to that of a cesarean section, especially when during the abdominoplasty corset stitches are made in the musculature.
Is only one intervention enough?
It is a definitive intervention as long as the patient keeps her weight without major variations. It is advisable not to become pregnant during the postoperative year.
With abdominoplasty we can recover a flat, defined, taut abdomen, refine the waist and repair the muscles. For more information do not hesitate to contact a specialist in Plastic Surgery.