ABDOMINAL PLASTIC SURGERY- Abdominoplasties 

Abdominoplasty (or “tummy tuck”) is one of the first aesthetic operations that were practiced in the plastic surgery specialty. It corrects two basic deformities: abdominal slough and excess skin and fat.  

Tissue excess, skin flaccidity, etc, are generally consequent to pregnancy or weigh loss following obesity.

In cases of pregnancy, the excessive tissue distention results in great skin dilation which does not retract after childbirth and leads to retraction of the abdominal muscles that support the abdominal viscerae, resulting in a bulging abdomen. 

The treatment consists of a wide incision at the lower abdomen, as in a C-section, extended to the sides and always positioned within the skin fold on the lower abdomen, a location identified with the patient in a seating position. 

Following this incision, the entire skin is undermined with the adjoining fat towards the rib cage, up to where is necessary. On this operative session, the abdominal rectus muscle will be approximated, will recover its original anatomy and reshape the “waist of the abdomen”. 

The excessive skin is tractioned, the exceeding tissues are removed and the navel that was attached to the deep plane will be re-implanted on its new site on the skin. 

This operation will result in a less bulging abdomen, with no excess skin and with a final incision at the lower abdomen and another circling the navel. These scars will develop to their final stage, flat and smooth, in approximately 18 months.

Abdominoplasty should be undergone after the patient has already beared children, although nothing prevents them from getting pregnant after the surgery. In case of a new pregnancy, the results of the previous operation will be altered, leading to new corrections. 

This same surgery is applied to obese patients, male or female, who develop drooping tissues on the lower abdomen. The operation can be limited to a simple skin removal, with no need of treating the muscles.   

The expected hospitalization time is of 48 hours. 

The patient will walk slightly bended forward in the first days, unbending progressively, returning to a upright position in the fourth day.   

Patients can resume most of their normal activities after 10 to 14 days, except for physical efforts or sports. Total liberation, including sports and sun exposure, will take place after 30 postoperatively days.

Abdominoplasty has had a great progress with the onset of abdominal liposuction that when associated brings more desirable results since the residual tissues lose weight and enables smaller scars.