TUMMY TUCK/ LIPOSUCTION
Abdominoplasty or TUMMY TUCK is a Cosmetic surgery procedure that makes the abdomen firmer. It tightens the muscle and fascia of the abdominal wall by removing excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen. Patients with loose or sagging tissues, caused by pregnancy or major weight loss, often prefer this type of surgery
IDEAL CANDIDATE
A tummy tuck is suitable for men and women who are in good health.
Women who have had several pregnancies may find the procedure useful for tightening their abdominal muscles and reducing skin.
A tummy tuck is also an option for men or women who were once obese and still have excess fat deposits or loose skin around the belly.
If you’re a woman who plans to get pregnant, then you may want to postpone a tummy tuck until you’re done having children. During surgery, your vertical muscles are tightened, and future pregnancies can separate those muscles.
A tummy tuck should be a last resort after you’ve tried everything else to loose a lot of fat. It should not be used as an alternative to weight loss.
You should also consider the appearance of scars after a tummy tuck. You can talk about scar placement and length with the doctor before the surgery.
PROCEDURE
Firstly surgeon will have a consultation with you. At that meeting, you’ll talk about your goals and the following options:
Complete abdominoplasty. The surgeon will cut your abdomen from hipbone to hipbone and then contour the skin, tissue, and muscle as needed. The surgery will involve moving your belly button, and you may need drainage tubes under your skin for a few days.
Partial or mini-abdominoplasty. Mini-abdominoplasties are often done on people whose fat deposits are located below the navel. During this procedure, the surgeon most likely will not move your belly button, and the procedure may only take up to two hours, depending on your case.
RISK
With any surgery, there are risks. Though they’re rare, complications can include infection, bleeding under the skin flap, or blood clots. You may be more likely to have complications if you have poor circulation, diabetes, or heart, lung, or liver disease.
You may experience insufficient healing, which can cause more significant scarring or loss of skin. If you do heal poorly, you may require a second surgery.
A tummy tuck leaves scars. Though they may fade slightly, they will never completely disappear. Your surgeon may recommend certain creams or ointments to use after you’ve completely healed to help with scars.
Taking Care of Yourself After Surgery
Whether you’re having a partial or complete tummy tuck, the area that’s operated on will be stitched and bandaged. It’s very important to follow all your surgeon’s instructions on how to care for the bandage in the days following surgery. The bandage used will be a firm, elastic band that promotes proper healing. Your surgeon will also instruct you on how to best position yourself while sitting or lying down to help ease the pain.
You will have to severely limit strenuous activity for at least six weeks. You may need to take up to one month off work after the surgery to ensure proper recovery. Your doctor will advise you on what you need to do or not do.
you smoke, your doctor will ask that you quit smoking from at least two weeks before the surgery until two weeks after the surgery. It is not enough to just cut down on smoking. You must stop completely since smoking makes complications more likely and slows healing.
Don’t try a drastic diet before the surgery. Eat well-balanced, complete meals. A healthy diet may help you heal better.
Tell your doctor about everything you take, including prescription drugs, herbal medicines, and other supplements. Your surgeon may instruct you to stop taking certain medications for a time before and after the surgery.
Returning to Daily Life
Generally, most people love how they look after this procedure. That can take time, though. You may not feel like your normal self for months after the surgery.
Diet and exercise can help you maintain the results.
Does Insurance Cover a Tummy Tuck?
Insurance companies generally do not cover cosmetic surgery that’s done without a medical reason. Your’s might if you have a hernia that will be corrected through the procedure.
Before you decide whether to get a tummy tuck, contact your insurance company so you’re clear on what’s covered and what’s not. If you think you can make a case that you need the procedure for medical reasons, your surgeon may be able to help you by writing a letter to your insurer.
LIPOSUCTION Or suction-assisted lipectomy or fat suctioning-
Liposuction means the removal of fat by surgery. In liposuction, the surgeon loosens and removes the fat from a specified area by using special instruments. It is the most commonly performed Cosmetic surgery procedure in the world. Localized or generalized fat collection on hips, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, waist, back, cheeks, jaws and neck, arms, upper torso, and other body parts can be reduced by this procedure.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
It is not a cure for obesity, neither it is a substitute for dieting. People with reasonably normal weight and healthy elastic skin, who want to get rid of extra localized fat in certain areas, reap the best results from this procedure. Healthy elastic skin has the capacity to shrink after the surgery. Though patients of any age may undergo liposuction, it is not usually done if the skin is too loose in a particular area. One could have loose skin due to various reasons, such as losing a lot of weight, loose skin in the abdomen after pregnancy, or loss of elasticity of skin due to old age. In such cases, in addition to liposuction, some of the skin may also have to be removed and muscles need to be tightened to get a satisfactory body figure.
The results can be permanent, provided you eat sensibly and exercise regularly. Even if you gain weight, you will gain it more uniformly throughout your body and not in the former bulges.
In liposuction and more so with a tummy tuck, you not only lose weight but also inches. The waistline can be reduced by 4-10 inches, which would give your body better shape and proportion. The surgery affects the area between the skin and the muscle and nothing is touched inside the abdomen. So the procedure has no side effects and subsequently, you can have pregnancies have normal conjugal life, and everything else as before.
Surgical procedure –
A small incision of about 3-4 mm is made ( as in laparoscopy) a few inches away from the areas to be suctioned and a suction cannula ( tube) is inserted. The incisions are usually made in the skin folds and their scars are hardly noticeable. On average the body area consists of 60-85 % fat and the remaining content would be plasma, blood, and serum, but this can vary depending upon the areas to be treated.
RESULTS
It depends upon the expectations of the patients and the amount of fat that is suctioned from the given area. Usually, patients with good elastic skin who go for recontouring of particular areas are very happy. Also in some cases, all unwanted fat cannot be removed in the first sitting. In such cases, liposuction may have to be repeated. The second liposuction cannot be done on the same area until all the swelling has gone down from the area i.e. about 4-6 months from the first surgery. However, liposuction of a different area can be done even as early as one month later.
On rare occasions, the surgery can cause rippled or uneven skin or areas of loose skin, which might require further surgeries to correct. Infection, healing problems, discoloration, unsatisfactory scar, etc. Are possible but rare side effects. If used, general anesthesia carries it’s own, though few hazards.