Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty)
Sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise and unhealthy diet sooner or later became noticeable on the tummy, while dieting and exercising do give wanted results. Even more, after finally loosing weight many people have even greater difficulties with sagging skin which will not get any better except if having it removed with an abdominoplasty.
Abdominoplasty commonly known as tummy tuck is a cosmetic surgery which is performed to remove the excess abdominal skin and the fat, and to make abdomen more firm by tightening the muscles of the abdominal wall. Abdominoplasty procedure greatly depends from the extent of the surgery and last from 1 to 5 hours, while patients are under general or local anesthesia. Smaller amount of excess skin are removed with so called mini tummy tuck or partial abdominoplasty which involves smaller incision than in patients with greater amount of excess skin. Incision is made from hip to hip just above the pubic area, while the detached skin is stretched down and the excess skin removed. Mini tummy tuck sometimes also involves removal of fat with liposuction and tightening of the abdominal muscles. The traditional tummy tuck is usually performed if sagging abdominal skin is a result of dramatic weight loss or pregnancy. Incision is made from hip to hip above the pubic area, while the navel is removed from the surrounding skin. Afterwards the skin is detached from the abdominal wall to tighten the abdominal muscles before tightening and removing the excess skin. At the end a new hole is cut for the navel.
During recovery length of which greatly depends on the extent and type of surgery as well as from the surgeon patients may experience some side effects and complications. For that reason is important to be very carefully when choosing type of tummy tuck as well as the surgeon and to follow the surgeon's directions after the procedure.