Overview
A Tummy Tuck, also called an abdominoplasty, tightens up loose muscles of the core and removes excess skin. It’s in the top 5 most common plastic surgery surgical procedures with almost 200,000 people electing for them each year.
As with any elective surgery it can be hard to decide if you really need it. It’s a major surgery that requires significant recovery time (4-14 weeks), so it’s best to really consider if it’s the right choice for you.
Here are a few reasons that tummy tucks can really make a difference in your life, and in some cases go from what may seem an “elective” surgery, to a “must”.
Tummy tuck for diastasis recti repair
Diastasis recti is the separation of the abdominal muscles, usually resulting from pregnancy. While often times the separation naturally repairs after birth, other women are stuck with a long road of physical therapy that will fully, partially, or sometimes never fully repair it.
Living with diastasis recti is not comfortable. Besides the look of still being pregnant in some cases, it can cause core weakness, an “eerie feeling” of your guts creeping out, and back pain from weak ab muscles. It can make doing certain forms of exercise difficult to impossible and often get worse as muscles naturally laxen over time.
If physical therapy and exercise doesn’t make the change you want after a year, a tummy tuck is a great, permanent way to close the gap and feel whole again in your core.
An added bonus is that if any excess skin and stretch marks exist, a tummy tuck can remove those too. As well as repair any possible hernias in the fascia wall.
Tummy tuck for skin removal post weight loss
While extreme weight loss can shrink bodies down to their ideal size, shape and body mass index, excess skin can be left behind, that is uncomfortable and awkward.
A tummy tuck is the best solution for removing the excess skin around the midsection and can be performed as part of a “body lift” if excess skin exists in other parts of the body.
Prior surgery scar removal (ie, C-section)
Many women who have undergone a c-section are left with a “shelf” in the lower abdomen where a ropey scar holds up a small amount of excess skin that droops slightly over the scar.
A tummy tuck can smooth out this area by often times reusing the same scar location, but thinning it and smoothing the skin and flesh above it to form a smooth, taut abdomen.
Repair hernias
Related but often separate to the reasons above, umbilical and other abdominal hernias which need surgical repair can be addressed during a tummy tuck. Often times pregnancy can lead to lax skin, umbilical hernia and diastasis recti, in which case a tummy tuck can address all three things in one procedure.
Conclusion
While a tummy tuck is not the best solution for simply slimming a waistline (liposuction, cool sculpting, diet and exercise are better options for this), it is a great solution for irreversible muscle laxness, skin tightening, scar removal and hernia repair.
It can restore a sense of wholeness and strength where prior a person’s core felt weak and vulnerable and while the recovery process can be lengthy, the results are long lasting.
** If you do decide to get a tummy tuck, be sure to be prepared. You will be prescribed shapewear to wear post-op, and peeLUX is designed to help you use the ladies’ room without pulling it down over the sensitive stitches.