What Happens if a Hernia is Found During a Tummy Tuck?
Dr. Rodriguez addresses a common concern for patients considering a tummy tuck: What happens if you find a hernia during my procedure?
Watch Dr. Rodriguez, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Baltimore, discuss the different types of hernias that may be encountered during a tummy tuck procedure and what happens when they are encountered.
Covered in the video:
Types of Hernias Typically Found – Dr. Rodriguez outlines the most common hernias that may be discovered during a Tummy Tuck, including an epigastric hernia, umbilical hernia, incisional hernia, and inguinal hernia.
Immediate Hernia Repair – Dr. Rodriguez explains how many hernias can be repaired during the scope of a Tummy Tuck surgery. Oftentimes they can be seamlessly integrated into the procedure without the need for a separate operation.
Expertise Required – Dr. Rodriguez emphasizes the importance of having a surgeon who is trained in both Plastic Surgery and General Surgery to handle unexpected findings like hernias during a tummy tuck.
Does it cost more? – Hernias such as the umbilical hernia and the epigastric hernia can typically be performed inside the scope of the Tummy Tuck procedure. However, some hernias such as an incisional hernia or inguinal hernia may require more OR time. This will add to the cost of the surgery.
If you’re concerned about a hernia being discovered during your Tummy Tuck surgery, or just want to learn more about the procedure and whether you may be a good candidate, schedule an in-office or virtual consultation with Dr. Rodriguez in Baltimore.
Give us a call at 1-410-494-8100 or contact us today!
With his extensive experience in both Plastic and General Surgery, you can trust that any unexpected issues with hernias will be handled with expertise, precision, and the utmost care.
Contact our office for a consult
Transcript
Hi, I’m Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez and today we’re going to talk about the different hernias we might encounter during a tummy tuck.
For example, the first type would be an incisional hernia, like where a patient had a previous scar, like an appendectomy scar or even a C-section scar down here.
The other type that we encounter, even more commonly, would be one on the belly button itself and another one will be epigastric hernia which is anywhere along the central part of the abdomen.
Now let’s take a look at this figure of the female here who had C-section scar, for example?
Like on her, we might encounter an umbilical hernia right around the belly button, or an epigastric hernia, which occurs separate from the natural separation of the rectus muscles that the woman has during pregnancy.
You know, that’s one of the reasons why we do tummy tucks after pregnancy. The muscles get separated, but in addition to the separation, they might have another little herniation here and here.
Now, those are simple to repair during surgery because when we’re pulling the muscle together, the closure of the hernia is incorporated in it, so we don’t have to fix the hernia directly. By just closing the rectus muscles, we take care of the problem.
However, if the hernia is either an inguinal hernia, more over here to the side (which is not that common in women), or, more commonly, an incisional hernia – like, the woman had a C-Section, the scar, the muscles weakened, she gets pregnant again, and then this area expands and creates a hernia. Well, those hernias have to be addressed separately. I can’t close it by closing this area – I have to actually close this separately.
Now, that will take a little bit more time and it might add some cost onto the surgery, but this is why it’s so important that your Plastic Surgeon be trained in general surgery so that he can handle these kinds of hernias that he might discover during the course of the surgery.
I hope this helps.
Thank you.