Beauty Doc Blog

A reader has asked the very logical question, “can I have a facelift and a tummy tuck at the same time?” A good question. First take a look at what each procedure entails.

A tummy tuck is also known as abdominoplasty and is a very common procedure for women post pregnancy. During and after pregnancy many women develop a pouch in the lower abdomen and the muscles will become stretched out. They will also have stretch marks in this area. The tummy tuck makes making an incision in the bikini area and an incision near the belly button followed by cutting all of the skin and fat out from those areas and pulling the skin and tissue down, giving them an improved appearance in the belly area.

A mini tummy tuck, also a popular procedure, is appropriate for those patients who have only a small amount of fat localized in a given area. With the mini tummy tuck the incision is still made but some of the tissue is pulled straight down and the incision is smaller. It is highly appropriate for some candidates and not for others.

A good candidate for a tummy tuck is any person with significant amounts of fat, skin or stretch marks in this area, in good health, done having children and with reasonable expectations of the outcome. Risks in a tummy other than those risks associated with anesthesia, include hematoma or seroma, collections of blood or fluid underneath the skin flaps. These risk are however minimal for a healthy patient.

A facelift,  also known or rhytidectomy is a surgical procedure where excess skin is removed from the face. The  incision usually in front of the ear area and the skin is pulled up. A facelift does not include forehead or eye area. Most facelifts involve removal or resetting of excess skin that has been hanging down or sagging. Years ago large incisions required resulted in large scars, and this is no longer the case. Today’s facelift procedures are improved and candidates who desire to remove sagging and are in good health, with reasonable expectations can be good candidates.

As far as having a facelift and a tummy tuck at the same time, always check with your doctor but most patients will find that they can do so with no medical problems. While they will be out of commission for a while due to soreness and discomfort during recovery, many people believe they might as well be uncomfortable and out of commission only once and not twice. Having the surgeries together is becoming more popular.