Tummy tuck surgery removes excess skin and fat from the abdomen, resulting in a firmer, more contoured shape. People who have lost a significant amount of weight may benefit from the procedure because the extra skin can be unsightly and uncomfortable. It can also help people who were born with hernias or diastasis recti, which is a separation of the abdominal muscles that causes a bulge in the middle of your belly.
While you should look for an insurance plan that covers this type of surgery, keep in mind that many plans require you to have already lost weight before requesting reimbursement for a tummy tuck. If you’re worried about how much weight you’ll have to lose before your insurance company will cover your tummy tuck, talk to your doctor about scheduling a consultation so they can help you decide if this is the right option for you.
Read on to learn more about How Do You Know If You Need A Tummy Tuck Revision, Tummy Tuck Risks Of Death and Tummy Tuck Complications Years Later
How Do You Know If You Need A Tummy Tuck Revision
Pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing all take a huge toll on a woman’s body, causing loose skin, saggy breasts, and unwanted fat deposits. Even months or years after having a child, many women find that they don’t recognize their figure. Plastic surgeon Dr. Ken Smart can address all of these concerns with a mommy makeover, which combines several plastic surgery techniques to give women back their pre-pregnancy appearance.
Mommy makeovers have helped many patients in Frisco and Plano, TX, and other North Texas communities. Patients often ask if insurance will pay for a mommy makeover. Here we discuss insurance coverage as well as alternate financing plans that can make mommy makeover treatment more affordable for our patients.
Mommy Makeover Is Generally Considered Elective
Mommy makeover is a completely customizable cosmetic procedure. Dr. Smart looks at each patient’s specific concerns to create a treatment plan that will help them achieve their aesthetic goals. Given the most common effects of pregnancy, cosmetic procedures that are most often a part of mommy makeover treatment include:
- Tummy tuck (abdominoplasty)
- Liposuction
- Breast augmentation
- Breast lift
- Breast lift with implants
- Breast reduction
In nearly all cases, the procedures performed as part of a mommy makeover are considered elective, meaning they are not medically necessary. Since insurance companies do not provide coverage for elective procedures, patients should expect to pay for treatment out-of-pocket.
Will Insurance Ever Provide Coverage For a Mommy Makeover?
Although it is not common for insurance companies to pay for mommy makeover treatment, there are rare cases when patients may be eligible for partial insurance coverage. Again, this is not the usual practice, but if patients have certain medical issues that could be corrected through mommy makeover treatment, then insurance companies may provide partial coverage for the portions of treatment that are considered medically necessary.
The two potential mommy makeover procedures that may be eligible for insurance coverage are tummy tuck and breast reduction. Even if these procedures are included in mommy makeover treatment, most insurance companies would only consider providing partial coverage if they had documentation from a medical professional stating that issues such as a ventral hernia or back/shoulder/neck pain related to overly large breasts could be corrected by a tummy tuck or breast reduction.
Alternate Financing Options
Since individuals can expect to pay for all or most of their mommy makeover procedure on their own, it is a good idea for them to consider financing options. It is not necessary for patients to pay for plastic surgery in cash or in one lump sum. There are several ways that patients can finance a cosmetic surgery procedure, such as a mommy makeover, so that it fits more easily within their budget.
Financing options include:
- Personal credit card
- Personal loan
- Medical credit card or loan
- Payment plan with the plastic surgeon (only available at some plastic surgery centers)
Tummy Tuck Risks Of Death
Abdominoplasty alone is considered a “major” surgical procedure in terms of risk and impact on normal homeostasis. Relative to other aesthetic surgical procedures, it is associated with higher rates of morbidity and morality, although with lower rates when compared with such reconstructive procedures as craniofacial surgery. According to Grazer and Goldwyn, it carries a mortality rate of 1:617 (.16 percent). about the same as that of hang gliding (1:600). A recent survey reported a rate as 1:2324 (.04 percent). The implication is that abdominoplasty has a significant and definable mortality risk associated with it; therefore, any additional procedure added to an abdominoplasty with further risk should caution the surgeon to minimize adverse outcomes before proceeding. Since not operating incurs no medical hardships, any further risks imposed by liposuction must be weighed by the physician and patient against potential gains.
Department of Plastic Surgery, Queen Mary’s Hospital, London
A 6-year retrospective series of 133 abdominoplasties was studied and type and incidence of complications are presented. From this series a group of 34 patients was re-examined between 4 and 10 1/2 years postoperatively and conclusions were made from this long-term follow-up. A high incidence of injury to the lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh was recorded. A blood transfusion was required in 19% of the cases, the average hospitalization was 12.4 days and the complication rate ranged between 24% in those who did not attend review and 65% in those who were re-examined. Objectively judged, 55% of the patients had excellent or good results, but subjective patient satisfaction was nearly 90%.
A Safer Alternative
We recommend instead the Yoho Method “No Scalpel Tummy Tuck”, done with liposuction, which in most cases gives you a much better result with skin shrinkage and almost no scarring. If you are indeed a tummy tuck candidate, we will tell you. For more information, read “Liposuction vs. Tummy Tucks”.
Tummy Tuck Complications Years Later
Complication risk is particularly high for the large proportion of patients undergoing abdominoplasty in combination with other procedures, according to an analysis of nationwide data by Dr. Julian Winocour of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, and colleagues. They write, “Combined procedures can significantly increase complication rates and should be considered carefully in higher-risk patients.”
Database Shows High Risk of Major Complications after Abdominoplasty
The researchers assessed abdominoplasty complication rates and risk factors using the nationwide CosmetAssure database. CosmetAssure is an insurance program providing coverage for complications related to cosmetic plastic surgery procedures, which are typically not covered by health insurance.
The study included nearly 25,000 abdominoplasties performed between 2008 and 2013, representing about 14 percent of all procedures in the database. Abdominoplasty is done to remove excess skin and tissue from the abdomen, to create a smoother, firmer abdominal profile.
Ninety-seven percent of abdominoplasty patients were women; the average age was 42 years. Sixty-five percent of patients underwent abdominoplasty combined with other cosmetic surgery procedures.
Overall, major complications occurred in four percent of patients undergoing abdominoplasty—significantly higher than the 1.4 percent rate after other cosmetic surgery procedures. (The database didn’t include less-serious complications that can be managed in the clinic). Hematomas (blood collections) were the most common major complication, followed by infections, blood clots (venous thromboembolism), and lung-related problems.
Combined procedures were a key risk factor for complications. Compared to the 3.1 percent rate with abdominoplasty alone, risk increased when abdominoplasty was combined with other procedures: up to 10.4 percent when abdominoplasty was combined with body contouring plus liposuction. After adjustment for other factors, the relative risk of major complications was 50 percent higher with combined procedures.
Other risk factors for major complications included male sex, age 55 years or older, and obesity. Risk was lower when abdominoplasty was performed in an office-based surgical suite, compared to a hospital or surgical center. Dr. Winocour comments, “Surgeons often refer patients with major illnesses, such as heart disease, to hospitals, which may be responsible for this observed trend in complications.”
Diabetes and smoking—two major surgical risk factors—were not associated with a significant increase in complications after abdominoplasty. “That likely reflected Board-certified plastic surgeons’ practice of not offering abdominoplasty to poorly controlled diabetics and recommending strict smoking cessation for at least four weeks before and after surgery,” Dr. Wincour adds.
Abdominoplasty is the sixth most common cosmetic surgical procedure performed in the United States, with more than 117,000 procedures performed in 2014, according to ASPS statistics. The number of abdominoplasties has increased in recent years—partly because of the increased number of patients undergoing body contouring surgery to remove excess skin and tissue after massive weight loss.
The study adds to previous evidence that abdominoplasty carries a higher complication rate than other cosmetic plastic surgery procedures. “Although the overall incidence of major complications is low, such complications can leave a potentially devastating cosmetic outcome and pose a significant financial burden on the patient and surgeon,” the researchers write.
They draw special attention to the risk associated with multiple procedures—especially since nearly two-thirds of patients in the database underwent other cosmetic procedures combined with abdominoplasty. Dr. Winocour and colleagues suggest that some patients at high risk of complications might be better off undergoing staged rather than combination procedures.