Tummy Tuck Plastic Surgery

Tummy Tuck Plastic Surgery

Tummy tuck surgery, also known as abdominoplasty, removes excess fat and skin and, in most cases, restores weakened or separated muscles creating an abdominal profile that is smoother and firmer.

A flat and well-toned abdomen is something many of us strive for through exercise and weight control. Sometimes these methods cannot achieve our goals. read more on the new tummy tuck procedure/tummy tuck surgery side effects.

Tummy Tuck Plastic Surgery

A tummy tuck, also known as an abdominoplasty, is a surgical procedure that removes loose skin and stubborn fat deposits, and tightens weakened abdominal muscles, with the purpose of creating a smoother, firmer profile.

There are several types of tummy tucks; the procedure your surgeon selects for you will be determined by the particular area you want to target and the desired outcome. Here at Flawless Skin by Abby, our goal is a happy patient that receives arguably the best tummy tuck Nigeria has to offer.

After your partial or complete tummy tuck, your incision site will be stitched and bandaged. Your surgeon may have you wear an elastic bandage or compression garment after surgery. If so, it’s very important that you follow all of your surgeon’s instructions on wearing this garment and caring for the bandage. Your surgeon will also tell you about the best way to sit or lie down so you’ll be in the least amount of pain.

If you’re exceptionally physically active, you’ll have to severely limit strenuous exercise for four to six weeks. Your doctor will advise you on this as you go through the healing process. Generally, one week off work after the surgery is sufficient for most people to recover properly. Again, your doctor will help you determine this.

How should I prepare for an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)?

Smoking can increase the risk of complications and delay healing. If you smoke, you will have to stop for a certain period as determined by your doctor. It is not enough to just cut down on smoking. You must completely stop using all forms of nicotine — gum, patches, and e-cigarettes — for at least one month before surgery and for two weeks after. The longer, the better, in terms of the time between when you stop smoking and when you have surgery.

Make sure you eat well-balanced, complete meals. Don’t try to diet excessively before the surgery. Proper nutrition is important to proper healing.

As part of your pre-operative consultation, your surgeon may instruct you to stop taking some of your medications that thin your blood and dietary supplements for a certain period before and after the surgery. This includes aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs). You must let your surgeon know if you’re taking any blood thinners.

Make sure you set up the safest, most comfortable recovery area to meet your needs before you undergo the surgery. Your home recovery area should include:

• A supply of loose, comfortable clothing that can be put on and taken off very easily.
• A telephone within easy reach.
• A hand-held shower head and bathroom chair.

What are the complications and side effects of an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)?

As expected, you will have pain and swelling after surgery. Your doctor will prescribe pain medications as needed.

Soreness may last for several weeks. You may also have numbness, bruising and overall tiredness for that same time period.

As with any surgery, there are risks. You may have an increased risk of complications if you have poor circulation, diabetes, heart, lung, or liver disease, or if you smoke. Complications can include:

• Scarring.
• Hematoma (bleeding).
• Infection.
• Seroma (accumulation of fluid).
• Poor wound healing.
• Blood clots.
• Numbness or other changes in sensation

Other complications include:

• Fat necrosis (death of fatty tissue located deep in the skin).
• Wound separation.
• Asymmetry (unevenness or lopsidedness).

What is the outlook for someone who has had an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)?

Generally, most people love the new look after they’ve undergone this procedure. However, you may not feel like your normal self for months after the surgery. You’ve gone through a tremendous amount to make this happen. It is a big commitment — emotionally, physically, and financially. It’s very important that you follow proper diet and exercise to maintain your new look.

An abdominoplasty is a procedure that flattens your abdomen by removing extra fat and skin and tightening muscles in your abdominal wall. This surgical procedure is also known as a tummy tuck.

Tummy tucks can be thought of as “mini” or more involved procedures depending on the amount of skin and fat. It’s important to educate yourself, thoroughly analyze your own situation, and take your time arriving at a final decision. The procedure shouldn’t be used as an alternative to weight loss.

Who are the best candidates for an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)?

A tummy tuck is suitable for both men and women who are in good general health overall and are at a stable weight. It’s best to be a non-smoker.

A tummy tuck shouldn’t be confused with a liposuction (the cosmetic surgery used to remove fat deposits), although your surgeon may choose to perform liposuction as part of a tummy tuck. Women who have muscles and skin stretched after several pregnancies may find the procedure useful to tighten those muscles and reduce that skin. A tummy tuck is also an alternative for people with a history of obesity and who’ve had significant weight loss, but still have excessive fat deposits or loose skin in the abdominal area.

When should you avoid an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)?

If you’re a woman who is still planning to have children, you may want to postpone a tummy tuck until you’re through bearing children. During surgery, your vertical muscles are tightened. Future pregnancies can separate these muscles once again.

If you’re still planning to lose a significant amount of weight, don’t have a tummy tuck right away. Wait until your weight has stabilized.

It’s important to note that a tummy tuck causes scarring on the abdomen. The length of the scar, which is along the bikini line, depends on the amount of extra skin. With minimal extra skin, the mini abdominoplasty results in a short scar.

Your plastic surgeon will discuss all these options with you when you go for the consultation. You and your surgeon will discuss the results you want, and the surgeon will determine the appropriate procedure during your consultation.

How is an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) done?

Depending on the results you want, this surgery can take anywhere from one to five hours. Surgery is generally done as an outpatient procedure. If you are traveling out of town to a facility to have the procedure done, you’ll be asked to stay overnight at a hotel. Liposuction may or may not be recommended at the same time.

You will receive general anesthesia, which will put you to sleep during the operation. It’s important to have someone with you who can drive you home. If you live alone and you’re sent home after the procedure, you also will need someone to stay with you at least the first night after the surgery.

• Complete abdominoplasty: This option is for patients who need the most correction. The incision (cut) is made at the bikini line, at about the same level as your pubic hair. The length of the scar depends on the amount of extra skin. Your surgeon will then manipulate and shape the skin and muscle as needed.
• Partial or mini-abdominoplasty: Mini-abdominoplasties are done with shorter incisions and are often performed on people who have less excess skin. Your belly button most likely won’t be moved during this type of procedure. Your skin will be separated between the line of incision and your belly button. This procedure generally takes one to two hours. As with the complete abdominoplasty, you may or may not have drainage tubes after surgery.
• Circumferential abdominoplasty: This surgery includes the back area.

The New Tummy Tuck Procedure

This brief tummy tuck history outlines how tummy tuck techniques and results have changed and improved over the years. Fortunately, for men and women considering abdominoplasty, the latest plastic surgery techniques allow for even better results and a smoother recovery time.

The first tummy tucks left you without a belly button

The first tummy tucks were performed over 200 years ago, though not for the same reasons as they are today. Removing excess skin from the abdominal area in order to cover up open wounds was the main purpose of this procedure in the early 1800s.

As one might imagine, a surgery used for critical wound care wasn’t exactly focused on cosmetics. As such, the final result of the first tummy tucks often left patients without a belly button.

Fortunately, this belief changed relatively quickly as the beginnings of the modern tummy tuck were shaping up.

Tummy tucks in the early 20th century greatly improved

In 1905, French plastic surgeons were able to figure out how to preserve the belly button during a tummy tuck. They discovered that they could use vertical and horizontal incisions to create small flaps through which to work, rather than creating one large horizontal incision across the entire abdomen. This way, the belly button could be preserved and the results were smoother and more sophisticated than ever before.

Still, abdominoplasty was not an incredibly common procedure and was still primarily used to treat wounds, especially during World War I, which ended in 1918. Fast-forward to the 1970s and 80s, and doctors began using tummy tuck techniques to treat umbilical hernias, which would result in a bulging belly. Surgeons quickly realized that a tummy tuck could result in a smoother, tighter appearance, thus paving the way for the modern tummy tuck techniques we see today.

Modern tummy tucks can do more than ever before

The tummy tuck has come a long way since the first crude procedures were performed in order to treat wounds in the 1800s. Today’s tummy tuck techniques not only offer safer and much more effective solutions, but also cut down on recovery and healing time and provide better results. Below are just some of the most notable advancements of the modern tummy tuck.

Before a tummy tuck you might also need to:

• Stop smoking. Smoking decreases blood flow in the skin and can slow the healing process. In addition, smoking increases the risk of tissue damage. If you smoke, your doctor will recommend that you stop smoking before surgery and during recovery.
• Avoid certain medications. You’ll likely need to avoid taking aspirin, anti-inflammatory drugs and herbal supplements, which can increase bleeding.
• Maintain a stable weight. Ideally, you’ll maintain a stable weight for at least 12 months before having a tummy tuck. If you’re severely overweight, your doctor will recommend that you lose weight before the procedure. Significant weight loss after the procedure can diminish your results.
• Arrange for help during recovery. Make plans for someone to drive you home after you leave the hospital and stay with you for at least the first night of your recovery at home.

What you can expect

A tummy tuck is done in a hospital or an outpatient surgical facility. During a tummy tuck, you’ll be under general anesthesia — which makes you completely unconscious and unable to feel pain. In some cases, you might be given a pain-relieving medication and be moderately sedated (partially asleep).

Before the procedure

There are a number of different procedures for a tummy tuck, depending on your goals and the extent of change you would like to see. During the typical tummy tuck, your plastic surgeon makes incisions to remove most of the skin and fat between your bellybutton and pubic hair in a horizontal oval or elliptical shape. Connective tissue (fascia) that lies over the abdominal muscles is then tightened with permanent sutures.

The amount of excess skin removed and the type of procedure you have will determine the shape and length of the incision. The incision above the pubic hair will be stitched together and will leave a scar that falls along the natural crease within the bikini line.

The drain-free tummy tuck

Prior to the drain-free tummy tuck technique, all tummy tucks were performed using a drain that prevented internal fluid buildup both during and after surgery. However, this made for a complicated recovery process, as the patient would need to empty the contents of the drain regularly before it was finally removed.

The drain-free tummy tuck eliminates the need for surgical and post-surgical drains by using a layered suture technique instead, leaving minimal extra space for fluid to build up. The result is not only a less complicated recovery but also a lower incision and less visible resulting scar.

Tummy Tuck Surgery Side Effects

• Fluid accumulation beneath the skin (seroma). Drainage tubes left in place after surgery can help reduce the risk of excess fluid. …
• Poor wound healing. Sometimes areas along the incision line heal poorly or begin to separate. …
• Unexpected scarring. …
• Tissue damage. …
• Changes in skin sensation.

Tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) can help address stretchmarks and sagging of the stomach, making it and ideal procedure for people who have experienced major weight loss following pregnancy or bariatric procedures. Dr. Kimberly Henry has helped countless patients in and around the greater San Francisco area achieve a trimmer and slimmer frame thanks to tummy tuck surgery, and it can really do wonders for you.

Of course, all surgeries cause certain side effects to occur. With that in mind, we’d like to go over some of the basic side effects of tummy tuck surgery so patients can have realistic expectations about what to expect from the treatment process.

About Tummy Tuck Surgery

Tummy tuck surgery typically involves three incisions in an anchor shape around the lower abdominal area:

• One lateral incision below the belly button that spans from hipbone to hipbone
• A circular incision around the belly button
• A vertical incision that connects the previous two incisions

Working through these incisions, a cosmetic surgeon is able to remove excess skin, adjust underlying tissues, tighten the remaining skin, and improve a patient’s overall body contour in the process.

The Effects of General Anesthesia

One of the most common side effects experienced after tummy tuck is related to general anesthesia. This is all normal, and it’s why patients should avoid driving and operating machinery in the first 24 hours after their tummy tuck.

Soreness and Discomfort After Tummy Tuck

After any kind of surgery, patients are bound to note soreness and discomfort as they recover. This is especially pronounced in the abdominal region where the work was performed.