Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty)
After a major loss of weight and almost always after pregnancy, abdomen remains loose and skin sagged. In this case, called in the expert language "venter pendulus" ("sagged belly" in English), the skin is considerably loosened with a possibility of incidence of stripe.
Sometimes overhang can occur also in the lower abdomen. Typically, the hypodermic fat layer is hypertrophied while the muscle tissue deep underneath is significantly loosened and feeble. If we go from the surface deep to the body, the abdominal wall consists of an upper cover, hypodermic fat layer, muscle tissue and peritoneum.
All 3 of these anatomic layers are reconstucted by abdominoplasty. The operation is usually conducted under general anesthesia, takes approximately 2 hours and requieres, typically, 2-3 days of hospitalization. Surgical convalescence takes 3 weeks, the patients are capable of returning to a full load condition with all risks after 6 weeks. The resulting scar usually traverses the whole lower abdomen and sometimes it can have the shape of anchor.
This operation is often combined with tumescence vibration-assisted liposuction of the area of waist and hips. A simple form of this operation is so-called mini-abdominoplasty, which provides for surgical correction only of lower abdomen.
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