There are many possible incisions for Tummy Tuck surgery.  The choice depends on the problem to be treated.  For most patients, hiding the incision inside of modest clothing near the groin is the best place to take out excess skin, yet hide the scar. Belly Button Centered Tummy Tucks, where the skin is removed around the belly button, can result in disaster as demonstrated on that link.  Hiding the scar inside the belly button for that part of the sculpture is an art form. Check a surgeon's Belly Button Picture Galleries to see what skill he/she has with their sculpture.  Scars that extend beyond the belly button tend to look unnatural.  Minimizing scarring with better Plastic Surgery is better than needing to hide scars. Hope this helps. Michael Bermant, M.D. Board Certified American Board of Plastic Surgery

Tummy Tuck

Making a new Belly Button (or Neoumbilicoplasty) can be extremely difficult and challenging surgical sculpture. Options depend on the original problem, what was done, how you healed, scarring, and many other factors best explored during a consultation.

Sometimes the operation can be a simple as an Outie to Innie Belly Button Reconstruction with surgery restricted to the belly button itself.

For some, this surgery can involve a compromise such as in this patient unhappy with her non existing belly button after a failed attempt of a MiniTuck to tighten her loose skin at the belly button itself. She then had an attempt at a belly button revision. She then had a burn scar injuring tissue above the belly button. She needed a Tummy Tuck Revision with a small component low vertical scar.

This is a challenging art form. Look for before and after examples of your surgeon's work before agreeing to surgery.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, M.D. Board Certified American Board of Plastic Surgery

Learn more about Umbilicoplasty Belly Button Plastic Surgery.

Tummy Tuck

Tummy Tuck can really stress the blood supply to tissues.  Any use of nicotine in the period before or after surgery can create horrible complications with Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty Surgery. Nicotine puts blood vessels into spasm and tissue that otherwise would live can be killed off. For my patients, I ask that they stop all forms of Nicotine for at least 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after surgery. But then again, I see patients from around the world and am trying to really minimize complications.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, M.D. Board Certified American Board of Plastic Surgery

Tummy Tuck

It depends on your doctor's techniques. Pain or Comfort After Tummy Tuck depend on the problem to be treated, surgical techniques, skill of your doctor and many other factors. With some techniques a hospital stay provides the advantage of using stronger pain medications to manage comfort. Some doctors' patients are so uncomfortable after tummy tuck surgery that a pain pump is one method of making someone comfortable after surgery and yet avoiding the costly hospital stay.

The Plastic Surgery literature is filled with details about patient pain after tummy tuck surgery. And that used to be an issue with my surgery many years ago. Tummy tucks hurt yet liposuction patients had very little discomfort. Over a decade ago, I became unhappy with patient pain and evolved my Tumescent Tummy Tuck. Now although I prescribe a strong pain pill, many of my patients tell me that just plain Tylenol alone is more than enough to deal with comfort issues. Here is a Video of a Belly Dancer discussing her Tumescent Tummy Tuck experiences including comfort and what she needed. Here is a much more complex revision tummy tuck. The second video on this Video Experiences of Revision Tummy Tuck after Failed Minituck and Failed Revision Umbilicoplasty. There are other videos demonstrating after surgery experiences. The best way to achieve such comfort starts out before surgery with patient education, continues with the surgical technique, and then after surgery methodology. It is a process of not letting the pain get started in the first place. Once it is there, it can be very difficult to get under control. So whether to use a pain pump or not really depends on what your doctor's patients need for that comfort. None of my tummy tuck patients used pain pumps, implantable local anesthesia additional injections, narcotic patches, or other such devices. I just use my Tumescent Technique.

Recovery After Tummy Tuck Surgery also depends on the problem, technique and skills of the doctor. The less swelling, bruising, and pain the faster the recovery. The more physically demanding the activity, the longer it takes to return to that function. Before and After Tummy Tuck Videos are a great way to document the problem and how tissues move after surgery. Early after surgery videos help see just how that patient is performing standardized motions. Each job has its own recovery needs. I was very fortunate in documenting the Recovery after Tummy Tuck Muscle Function in a Belly Dancer which shows how she was experimenting just what her tissues would take. She then sent me a video of her performing a solo belly dance in public 3 and 1/2 months after surgery. Some patients are back to light work a week or 2 after surgery, others take longer. The many videos on my site attempt to give a spectrum of what my patients experience with my technique. However, you should not assume that another method will work the same way. That is why checking out what your surgeon's methods require is so critical.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD Board Certified American Board of Plastic Surgery

Learn More About Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty Surgery

 

Tummy Tuck

Breast augmentation will not make breasts smaller.  Implants can fill in a deflated upper pole, but then you have to like how they move with activities and sports.

If you want smaller breasts lifted to a fuller shape, then the sculpture is by definition some form of Breast Reduction Surgery.  Essentially all breast reductions involve lifting of the tissues and repositioning of the nipples. To assess the effectiveness of a technique, check how the tissues move. Here are Movies Before and After Breast Reduction and Lift Surgery.  Before considering implants, check equivalent details beyond what still photos demonstrate.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, M.D. Board Certified American Board of Plastic Surgery

Breast Augmentation