Ask a Surgeon - Tummy Tuck - I am a candidate for a reverse abdominoplasty. I cannot find any information on...

Submit your question below about any cosmetic procedure to be considered for posting with an answer from one of our board-certified plastic surgeons.

Submit a Question

Procedure: *

Procedure related to this question.

Question: *

A good title will help more Doctors find your question. Your question title is limited to 90 characters.

Description:

Enter an optional description here for futher detail. Your description is limited to 500 characters.

Name:

E-Mail Address: *

City:

State:

Country:

Are you considering cosmetic plastic surgery?: *

How did you hear about us?: *

Age: *

Gender: *

Would you like to receive e-mail news from ASAPS?: *

Click here to review the terms of use agreement.

By checking this box you agree to the terms of use.

What code is in the image?: *

Enter the characters shown in the image.

If your question is about the cost of a procedure, click here. For referral to a qualified surgeon in your area, see find a surgeon.

Note: ASAPS cannot give advice about specific medical problems nor should answers provided by responding surgeons be substituted for a complete medical history, work-up and an in-personal medical/surgical consultation. Sorry we can't answer all questions. We try to select questions that have the widest general interest.

I am a candidate for a reverse abdominoplasty. I cannot find any information on this...

Q:

I am a candidate for a reverse abdominoplasty. I cannot find any information on this procedure or any post-op photos. Could you please explain the procedure and contraindications?

A:

A reverse abdominoplasty is a procedure designed to improve abdominal contour, especially in the upper portion of the abdomen. For patients that have skin excess or laxity above the belly button, this procedure may be an option. The procedure places an incision along the lower portion of the rib cage, just below the breasts. The final scar may be hidden by the breasts to some extent, except for in the midline. Patients in poor health or who have extensive abdominal scars may not be a candidate for this procedure.

Steven Carp, M.D. - View Other Answers by this Doctor

Uniontown, OH

Practice Website

A:

‘Reverse Upper’ abdominoplasty

Not infrequently I see patients in whom there is as much skin laxity in the upper abdomen as there is in the lower abdomen. In fact, some patients after pregnancy will have fairly 'toned' lower abdominal skin, but very lax and redundant upper abdominal skin. In these situations, the removal of skin in a vertically downward direction ( a conventional tummy tuck) is not adequate to correct the upper abdominal skin laxity. Such patients are often very good candidates for what I refer to as a 'reverse upper' abdominoplasty.

This surgical technique involves removing excess abdominal skin vertically upwards using incisions hidden in the inframammary folds underneath the breasts. In general, this operation is best reserved for patients with fairly full or at least slightly droopy breasts, which serve to nicely conceal the inframammary folds. An important part of this procedure is the placement of permanent lifting sutures that elevate the lower skin edge, following removal of excess skin, to the upper skin edge in the inframammary fold. These permanent sutures ensure that the resulting surgical scar remains hidden within the inframammary fold.

A great advantage of this procedure is that the patient's original belly button is preserved, and thus there are absolutely no surgical scars that are visible when wearing a two-piece swimsuit or typical underwear (bra and panties). Additionally, because this procedure generally requires less skin undermining and thus less interruption of the normal blood supply of abdominal skin, more thorough liposuction of the waist and back can be performed at the same time.

Many patients having this surgery, therefore, undergo a reverse upper abdominoplasty combined with a lower 'mini' abdominoplasty, tightening of the entire length of the rectus abdominis muscles, and liposuction of the circumferential trunk - and keep the belly button with which they were born. I usually refer to this operation as 'reverse upper / modified lower abdominoplasty'.