The tummy tuck procedure can be done under general anesthesia so that you do not feel any pain during or after surgery. You will be able to go home after surgery within 24 hours of having completed your procedure because there is no need for an overnight stay at our office or hospital facility.
Are you looking for a solution to your stomach problems? We have the solution. We can help you with a tummy tuck. A tummy tuck is the best way to remove excess fat and skin from the abdomen area. The procedure will remove any excess fat, skin, and underlying tissue that are causing your stomach to appear lumpy or uneven. The procedure will also tighten up the muscles in your abdomen so that they are more toned and defined.
Read on to learn more about Good Candidate For Tummy Tuck, Will Insurance Pay For Tummy Tuck If You Have A Hernia and Can You Perform A Tummy Tuck With Hernia Repair?
Good Candidate For Tummy Tuck
A tummy tuck, known in the medical community as abdominoplasty, is a procedure that involves the removal of excess fat and skin and tightening of the abdominal muscles and remaining skin. Abdominoplasty is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic procedures in the country because it is incredibly safe and can effectively address numerous cosmetic and health concerns. Today, the experts at Salas Plastic Surgery in Miami, FL reveal who exactly is a candidate for tummy tuck.
13 Signs You Are a Good Candidate for Tummy Tuck
1. You Have Loose Skin Around Your Abdomen
To be a good candidate for tummy tuck, it is fairly important that you have loose or excess skin around your abdomen. If your goal is simply to remove excess fat from your abdomen, you may be a better candidate for liposuction.
Moreover, to perform this procedure, your plastic surgeon will create an incision. If your skin is too tight, your stomach may be left with a “stretched” appearance. If you only have excess skin below your navel, you may only be a good candidate for a mini tuck rather than a full tuck or extended tuck.
2. You Are Fairly Healthy
Abdominoplasty is an incredibly low-risk procedure. However, only people who are fairly healthy are a good candidate for this procedure. For example, your heart and lungs need to be healthy as you will be sedated with general anesthesia.
Moreover, it is important to be free from connective tissue disorders and autoimmune disorders to ensure your recovery is short, safe and comfortable. Finally, it is very important that you do not suffer from the predisposition to develop keloid scars. If you’re not sure you’re healthy enough to be a good candidate for tummy tuck, don’t worry. Your medical history will be reviewed thoroughly during your initial consultation. At that time, we will also assess your current health.
3. You Have Realistic Expectations About the Results
Abdominoplasty is an excellent way to treat certain medical conditions and improve your self-confidence. However, it is not intended to be a weight loss procedure. Abdominoplasty is designed to remove small pockets of excess abdominal fat.
Moreover, the results of this procedure are considered permanent. Once the fat cells are removed, new ones cannot grow to replace the fat cells that were removed. However, to maintain the results of the procedure, it is important that you stay within 10 to 30 pound of your current weight. Subsequent weight gain can cause the skin to stretch out again. Any weight loss after that can result in more sagging or excess skin.
4. You Are Committed to a Healthy Lifestyle
As mentioned previously, the best way to keep the results of abdominoplasty for life is to not gain or lose too much weight. However, as important as it is to eat around maintenance, it is just as important to take care of your skin. Do not consume any form of tobacco or tobacco byproduct. Do not drink alcohol to excess.
Consume enough water daily that your urine is translucent or at least very pale. Finally, get enough skin-supporting vitamins and minerals in your diet, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K and biotin.
5. You Have Had a Baby or Been Obese
Remember, to be a good candidate for tummy tuck, you need loose skin. Two of the most common causes of loose skin are pregnancy and obesity. Moreover, both of these life events can result in your stomach muscles being “permanently” damaged. This is often apparent when your lower abdomen resembles a kangaroo pouch. No amount of diet or exercise can reverse this. Your only option is to have your abdominal muscles sewn back together by a plastic surgeon.
Moreover, if you have excess skin in addition to loose skin, you can look a lot heavier than your actual weight. If you’ve toiled for months or years to reach a healthy weight, this can be incredibly disheartening and take a major toll on your self-confidence. You are an excellent candidate for tummy tuck if you have had a baby or been obese.
6. You Are Done Being Pregnant
The best candidate for abdominoplasty has no plans of being pregnant in the future. There are no medical risks to you or your fetus if you become pregnant, however, every pregnancy comes with the risk of significant weight gain, loose or excess skin and tearing of the abdominal walls.
Any one of these events will reverse the effects of the procedure. If you become pregnant in the future, you may need a follow-up procedure to get your prenatal body back.
7. You Are Not Planning to Lose More Weight
Remember, the best candidate for abdominoplasty is within 30 pounds of his or her goal weight. If you lose any more weight than that after the procedure, you run the risk of more loose skin and undoing the results of the procedure. We recommend that you wait to consider abdominoplasty until you are at or very near your goal weight.
8. You Suffer From Stress Urinary Incontinence
Abdominoplasty goes far beyond improving your aesthetic and self-confidence. It can also cure several medical conditions. For example, it is often recommended to cure stress urinary incontinence (SUI). SUI is one of the most common side effects or pregnancy. This condition is characterized by uncontrollable leakage caused by “stress” to the bladder, such as laughing, running, jumping, sneezing or coughing.
If you gave vaginal birth and suffer from SUI, you may greatly benefit from abdominoplasty to cure stress urinary incontinence. Even if oral medication is fairly effective, you have to remember to take the right doses at the right times without fail. Moreover, medications for incontinence relief often come with several nasty side effects. If you have a bladder control disorder and you have loose skin and excess fat, you may be the perfect candidate for abdominoplasty.
9. You Suffer From Back Pain
Extreme weight loss and multiple pregnancies, among other risk factors, can lead to your abdominal muscles becoming distended. When this happens, you may experience lordosis, also known as swayback.
After your abdominal muscles are sewn back together, you may find that your posture improves significantly. Better posture can drastically improve your abdominal tone, even if your abdominal muscles aren’t very toned right now, and alleviate several types of back pain.
10. You Have a Ventral Hernia
A ventral hernia occurs when abdominal tissue or an intestine penetrates the abdominal wall and forms a sack or pocket. Risk factors of developing a ventral hernia include having had a C-section, an appendectomy, massive weight loss or a previous ventral hernia. The bottom line is if you have weak abdominal muscles and are at risk of developing, or currently have, a ventral hernia, you may be an excellent candidate for abdominoplasty.
11. You Need a Little Help Maintaining Your Weight
Sometimes, clients are committed to a healthy lifestyle but need a little extra help. If you have a significant amount of excess skin, exercise can be incredibly difficult and uncomfortable, if not impossible. Removing excess skin can give you the self-confidence you need to swim.
This procedure can also make other forms of physical activity, such as running and cycling, a lot easier. Sometimes, compression shorts and compression shirts are not enough to keep your excess abdominal skin and fat from bouncing around uncomfortably.
12. Your Diabetes Is Under Control
Unfortunately, abdominoplasty is not for everyone. For example, it is not usually recommended for people who suffer from diabetes. However, you may still be a good candidate for abdominoplasty if you do not suffer from uncontrolled diabetes which is causing complications and you do not have a history of kidney conditions.
13. You Have Realistic Expectations About Recovery
Abdominoplasty is a safe, straightforward, effective procedure. However, as with any cosmetic procedure, there will be a recovery period afterward. It is essential that you understand what to expect during recovery to determine if it is a good fit for you. You may need to take a prescription analgesic for the first three days post-op. Moreover, you will need to sleep on an incline during the same timeframe with your knees bent at an angle.
To make your recovery as quick and comfortable as possible, take vitamin A and vitamin C supplements as well as a probiotic supplement. If your analgesics are causing you constipation, take a fiber supplement. Green tea is an excellent addition to your diet to increase antioxidant and immunity levels. Arnica is phenomenal for minimizing swelling, bruising and pain. To heal your incision, take a staphisagria supplement. Ginger tea or a phosphorous supplement can be consumed to relieve nausea from analgesics. Finally, papaya and pineapple can minimize inflammation and swelling.
What If Abdominoplasty Isn’t Right for Me?
If you’re fed up with pockets of stubborn fat but you’re not convinced abdominoplasty is right for you, liposuction is an alternative. This body sculpting treatment can help you sculpt several trouble areas, including the:
- Flanks
- Abdomen
- Upper arms
- Buttocks
- Hips
- Thighs
One of the advantages of liposuction is it can be used to treat several areas during one procedure. Moreover, the fat from this procedure can be grafted (cleaned and transferred) to another part of your body. For example, you can remove fat from your midsection and have it implanted into your buttocks or breasts.
What Can I Expect During Liposuction?
Regardless of how many areas you are targeting during liposuction, the treatment sites are cleansed in a sterile environment. Then, a local anesthetic is applied and tiny incisions are made strategically so as to be incredibly discrete. Once the incisions are made, a fine cannula is inserted to loosen and remove fat, contouring your ideal aesthetic.
What Can I Expect After Liposuction?
After liposuction, you will need to spend several days resting and avoid strenuous exercise for six weeks. Results from the procedure can be enjoyed as soon as swelling has subsided. If you remain adequately hydrated and take arnica supplements to keep the swelling down, this shouldn’t take long. Generally, we recommend asking for two to four days off of work to give yourself plenty of time to recover from the procedure.
Am I a Good Candidate for Liposuction?
The best candidate for liposuction is within 30 pounds of his or her goal weight, generally healthy and wants to improve his or her aesthetic by removing fat from regions of the body with at least an inch of pinchable fat. To determine if liposuction or a combination of liposuction and abdominoplasty is right for you, we strongly encourage you to schedule an initial consultation with the aesthetic experts at Salas Plastic Surgery in Miami, FL.
Will Insurance Pay For Tummy Tuck If You Have A Hernia
Many of us know all about the benefits of tummy tuck surgery. Also known as an abdominoplasty, a tummy tuck is a surgical procedure that tightens your stomach muscles. It removes excess skin and creases on your abdomen, which are the result of rapid weight loss, pregnancy, or aging.
It is a hugely popular cosmetic procedure with the numbers to prove it. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of tummy tuck surgeries increased by 87% between 2000 and 2014.
As much as an abdominoplasty can improve your physique, many have begun to turn to this cosmetic surgery procedure to correct physical complications such as hernias.
What is a Hernia?
A hernia occurs when a stomach organ pushes through an opening in the muscle or tissue holding it in place. This usually happens when muscles in the stomach have weakened, often appearing in and around the belly button (navel).
When left untreated, it can lead to significant discomfort. Made worse by everyday actions such as sneezing, coughing, urinating or lifting heavy objects. More critically, this can even lead to severe damage, and perhaps the death of affected tissue.
Based on data from a 2015 study published in the The Journal of the American Medical Association, there were approximately 2.3 million in-patient abdominal hernia repairs between 2001 and 2010, roughly 567,000 of which were emergencies. Furthermore, such emergent hernia rates were most prevalent among adults 65 years and older.
Can a Tummy Tuck Cause a Hernia?
In short, there’s a chance that a tummy tuck causes a hernia. Developing a hernia is one of the usual risks, albeit an uncommon one, associated with undergoing an abdominoplasty. And because of this, many are left with the perception that the procedure causes hernias to develop.
Common hernias such as incisional hernias are located in the abdomen and can develop during or after an abdominoplasty. For instance, the sutures used to tighten the stomach muscles may accidentally damage the surrounding muscles. Conversely, it’s also possible it was already present before the tummy tuck procedure. It only became prevalent after removing the excess skin and fat surrounding it.
If you detect an abdominal bulge after undergoing a tummy tuck, be sure to inform your plastic surgeon. Your surgeon may ask you to get an MRI or CT scan to determine its cause.
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Can You Perform A Tummy Tuck With Hernia Repair?
The short answer is yes. A tummy tuck can be performed with hernia repair. So, much like strengthening and tightening your stomach, a tummy tuck can similarly correct an umbilical hernia or ventral hernia.
The upper and lower abdomens are tightened during surgery. An incision is made around the belly button and extends to both sides of the hip, beneath the panty line.
Once the skin and tissue are lifted, your surgeon performs the hernia repair. They will push the protruding organ back behind the abdominal wall. The abdominal muscles are tightened and excess tissue is removed.
Final results can address weakened abdominal muscles and reduce pressure and discomfort on your skin.
The First Thing You Need To Do
Before undergoing a tummy tuck, be sure to consult first with your plastic surgeon to discuss how a hernia developed. Again, an MRI or CT scan can help pinpoint the cause.
You also need to look at the size of a hernia and whether your surgeon is comfortable treating it through abdominoplasty. If not, a general surgeon can perform the repair during the tummy tuck procedure. Either way, acquiring the insights and guidance from a specialist will go a long way in treating your condition. Under their care, you will learn about the right preparations, while understanding the risks you may encounter along the way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are questions commonly asked about a tummy tuck and hernia repair:
Will insurance pay for a tummy tuck if you have a hernia?
Most insurance agencies will only cover the costs of the tummy tuck if the procedure is deemed medically necessary. In MOST cases, insurance will only cover the cost for the hernia repair. Once your surgeon has fully assessed you, a report will be sent to your provider. Your provider will then determine if your case is medically required.
Is it normal to have a lump after hernia repair surgery?
Swelling and fluid accumulation after hernia repair is completely normal.
Can I have liposuction during hernia repair?
You can possibly have liposuction during a hernia repair, but you need to discuss this with your surgeon depending on the size of hernia and area desired.