With excessive weight gain and loss, pregnancy and advancing age, the anterior abdominal wall muscles relax, sagging, cracking and fat accumulation occur in the abdominal skin. This eliminates the waist fold and causes excessive thickening of the abdomen and waist region.
The operation performed to eliminate these problems and to give the abdomen and waist area a slim and youthful appearance is called tummy tuck. This surgery is performed using a transverse skin incision made in the lower abdomen in the groin area. In this way, the abdominal skin stripped from the lower layer and the fat tissue underneath are thinned and excess tissue is removed. In the surgery, the loosened abdominal wall muscles are also stitched together to relieve the looseness of the abdomen.
Surgery Technique:
Abdominoplasty is performed in two different ways, depending on the excess fat and skin in the abdomen and waist area:
-Mini Tummy Tuck
It is applied to patients who have excessive abdominal skin and looseness in the muscles in the lower part of the belly button. In this type of surgery, no incision is made around the belly button. The incision made from the lower part of the abdomen is kept very limited.
-Full Abdominoplasty
It is applied to patients in whom the above-mentioned problems are more severe. These patients are people who have lost excess weight or who have had two or more pregnancies. The anterior abdominal wall is excessively relaxed. Even between the anterior abdominal wall muscles, openings up to 10-15 cm can be detected. The anterior abdominal wall and lumbar region are excessively lubricated and the abdominal skin has sagged significantly. In this type of patients, liposuction is performed on the waist and abdomen before the classical tummy tuck surgery. Thus, the abdomen and waist region are shaped more easily with the surgery, and the waist curve becomes more prominent.
Post-Surgery:
Abdominoplasty is an operation performed in the hospital under general anesthesia. It is a process that takes about 2-4 hours. It is sufficient for the patients to stay in the hospital for 1 day after the operation. A drain is placed under the abdominal skin to collect the leaking serum and is usually removed at discharge. As the abdominal muscles are tightened, patients may feel pain after surgery. These pains are easily relieved with the drugs given during the hospital stay. It gradually decreases in a few days and disappears at the end of a week. Patients use an abdominal corset for about 3 weeks after surgery.
Walking by leaning forward for 1 week after the surgery will reduce the tension felt in the abdomen. In addition, walking for increasing distances accelerates the transition to normal life.
Few Important Notes..
– If the surgery candidate is in the process of losing weight, the surgery should be planned after this process is over.
– If pregnancy will occur within a foreseen period, the surgery should be planned at least six months after the birth.
– Although tummy tuck surgery is not a direct treatment for cracks around the navel, it greatly alleviates this problem as the skin area containing the cracks will be removed.
– In order to reduce the post-operative risks, it is relaxing for smokers to quit smoking at least 1 week before the surgery, and for patients with constipation and chronic cough to apply additional treatments for these problems during the postoperative period.
However, it takes two months to start heavy exercises. At the end of 1 week, most patients are able to go to work easily.
As in any surgery, swelling and numbness in the operation areas, and bruising in the lumbar region very rarely occur in patients who underwent liposuction. The swelling in these areas disappears and the lines appear completely, but only after one or two months. While the bruises go away completely within a week, it takes a few months for the numbness on the skin to go away.
Patients who pay attention to their weight maintain the obtained form for many years. Although it is not medically forbidden to get pregnant after surgery, it causes deformation in these areas again.
