Beauty Doc Blog

Abdominoplasty, also known as a tummy tuck, is a procedure designed to make the abdomen more firm. Abdominoplasty is defined as plastic surgery of the abdomen in which excess fat tissue and skin are both removed, usually for cosmetic purposes. This surgery involves removal of skin and fat from the lower and middle regions of the abdomen and a tightening of the muscle and fascia of the wall of the abdomen. This surgery is common among women with loose tissue due to pregnancy or a sagging that occurs after major weight loss.

The procedures of abdominoplasty very in scope, being a complete or a partial abdominoplasty, also known as a full or mini tummy tuck. The full tuck can take up to five hours, and the mini tuck one or two hours to perform.

A full abdominoplasty involves an incision  made from hip to hip just above the pubic area following by another incision to free the navel from the skin that surrounds it. Then the skin is detached from the abdomen wall, revealing the muscles and fascia that need to be tightened.  This muscle and fascia is tightened using sutures. Then the remaining skin and fat are tightened by removal of excess, and closing of the defective area. The old “belly button” stalk is brought out through a newly made hold and it is sutured into place. Many times liposuction will be used during the procedure to refine the transition zones and a dressing will be applied, as well as a compression garment. Excess fluid will then be drained.

In a mini tuck or partial abdominoplasty a smaller incision will be made. The fat and skin of the lower abdomen will be detached in a limited fashion from the fascia and the skin stretched down, with excess skin removed. Often the belly button stalk will be divided from the muscle below it and the belly button will be slid lower on the wall of the abdomen. A portion of the muscle fascia wall will be tightened, liposuction often used to contour the transition zone and the flap put into place.

The procedures mentioned have different sizes of scars. While the doctors do everything possible to make them not noticeable there are still small amounts of scarring that may be noticed, but it will take effort on the part of the person looking.