Tummy Tuck Articles

Discover the benefits of an extended tummy tuck, which offers more extensive body contouring by addressing lose skin in the abdomen, flanks, hips, and lower back. Compare it with other tummy tuck variations to see which is right for you.

Your BMI, or Body Mass Index, plays a big role in surgical complication risk assessment. All cosmetic surgery patients should have a BMI assessment prior to surgery. The BMI is a number that compares your weight to your height. High BMI’s create higher surgical risks.

Patients with a BMI less than 35 are typically good candidates for the Tummy Tuck and BBL. However, every surgeon has a different guideline for what is the acceptable BMI for an elective surgery.

If you are considering a Tummy Tuck you should find out exactly where the surgeon will place the incisions.  The incision will determine what the scar looks like. Two types of incisions are made for the Tummy tuck: 1) horizontal and 2) belly button. The horizontal incision should be as low as possible ,and the belly button incision should be more similar to an inverted “U”. 

Following a Liposuction or Tummy Tuck procedure, the wearing of a compression garment should be a mandatory part of your post operative instructions. A medical grade compression garment will not only help give you smooth surgical results, but it can also eliminate the need for drains following a Liposuction procedure.

The Mommy makeover is a combination of cosmetic surgery procedures done at the same time to address the changes in the body after pregnancy. Each Mommy makeover is customized to your concerns. However, the Mommy makeover should address 3 main issues: the breast , stomach, and upper body changes.

The most common question we get about Tummy Tuck recovery in my Baltimore practice is ‘How much time off work do I need?’ The answer is 2-3 weeks. If you have an office job, you can resume WFH computer type work in week 3. You can go into work in week 3, but no driving until the end of week 3. 

Many patients are afraid of the Tummy tuck procedure because they have seen friends’ scars or pictures of scars on the internet. Some patients including Hispanic, Asians, or African Americans think they are bound to get thick scars simply based on their ethnic background. This is just not so. Thick or unsightly scars following abdominoplasty can be easily avoided. In addition , your incision can be placed well below the panty line.

There have been several comments recently on one of my previous blog posts about Tummy tuck swelling. While swelling is a definite concern, it’s only one of the possible complications following Abdominoplasty. Other complications can include infection, wound separation, and fluid collections. Be sure to discuss these things with your plastic surgeon prior to your surgery.

“Can I have another procedure at the same time as the Brazilian butt lift?” The answer is yes and no. A Tummy tuck can be safely combined with the Brazilian butt lift to give a great result. However, combining the butt lift with breast aug is usually not advisable. Watch this video by Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez, a Yale trained Plastic Surgeon.

Plastic surgery doesn’t have to be painful. If you are having a cosmetic surgery procedure ask your plastic surgeon about pain pumps. These types of pumps use local anesthetics, not narcotics. Pain pumps eliminate pain, reduce nausea, and result in much quicker recovery.  

How do you achieve a flat stomach? Do you need more exercise or a Tummy tuck? Find out about the rectus abdominis muscle and how to perform a self examination of this muscle.

In many plastic surgery forums I always see the question – ‘Can a tummy tuck can be performed with something other than General Anesthesia’? The good news is YES – you can have a tummy tuck with IV Sedation. Instead of general anesthesia, I use local tumescent anesthesia with IV sedation. This type of anesthesia is highly preferable compared to general anesthesia and I want to explain why. With General anesthesia , a machine is breathing for you and you have a tube down your throat or nose. With IV anesthesia you are breathing on your own and there is no tube in your throat or nose. Recovery from IV sedation is also much easier with IV sedation compared to General anesthesia. Most people experience much less nausea with IV sedation.

In my previous blog post about postoperative Tummy tuck swelling I talked about how the blood supply is disrupted to different degrees using the two different types of Tummy tuck techniques (standard vs. Lockwood). In summary, the more skin that is elevated and separated from the muscle layer, the more blood supply disruption you have. On this post we will address swelling of the tissues after Tummy tuck and why compression garments following surgery are important to reduce swelling. The body is made mostly of water, and there is a constant fluid leakage from the tissues balanced by reuptake of fluid into the lymphatic drainage system. When the lymphatic system is impaired, we get fluid accumulations. The fluid can accumulate between the tissues as interstitial fluid (like a soaked sponge), or outside of the tissues as a seroma (like a sac of fluid). It can also accumulate at some distance from the operative site, usually the upper thighs or legs. The drawing illustrates the various types of fluid accumulation following surgery. As you move from left to right on the illustration you have increasing swelling to result in these conditions:

Dr. Rodriguez explains how Abdominoplasty surgical techniques influence blood supply disruption and post-operative swelling, so let’s take a look at how that plays into reducing swelling and eliminating fluid collections.

I get many patients who come into my Baltimore office requesting a Tummy tuck. The Tummy tuck will give a much flatter tummy, and if they get liposuction around the love handle area, a drastic reshaping of the entire midsection. But the biggest drawback is the scar. It goes most of the time from hip bone to hip bone. Invariably, I get the question, can we do a Mini Tummy tuck? The patient is hoping to get most of what she needs with a smaller scar and a less involved surgery. What is the difference between the Tummy tuck and the Mini Tummy tuck?