Tummy tuck: what is it?

Also called tummy tuck or tummy tuck, tummy tuck is a procedure of surgery aesthetic or restorative ofabdomen. It is similar to a belly lift.

Unlike the liposuction, the tummy tuck is not intended to lose weight or to be a solution to to lose weight. It is rather indicated after significant weight loss, when the skin of the stomach is in excess and sagging, sagging, damaged or showing stretch marks. The intervention may be indicated following another operation, a obesity or one or more pregnancies.

The stages of abdominoplasty

The abdominoplasty can be done on three levels: the skin of the abdomen, the excess fat resistant to weight loss, and the abdominal muscles great rights. The excess skin, located between the navel and the pubis, is removed. The purpose of this step is to remove the damaged skin or the “abdominal apron”, so called when the sagging skin covers the pubis, like an apron. The skin above the navel is then peeled off and stretched to the pubis. When necessary, an umbilical transposition is carried out: it is a question of artificially recreating an orifice in the stretched skin and resituated at the level of the navel.

A “mini-tummy tuck” is sometimes offered. This procedure only affects the skin below the navel, when the skin above does not show sagging and does not need to be tightened. There is then no umbilical transposition.

During a tummy tuck, the surgeon also removes liposuction, or liposuction, the most resistant fat residues in the abdomen and flanks. The adipose (fatty) cells do not renew themselves, the fatty residues are therefore permanently eliminated. a food rebalancing or an activity physical are, however, necessary to prevent new fatty deposits from forming.

When the muscles great rights are too far apart, following pregnancy, weight loss, lack of physical activity or simply a congenital characteristic, the abdominoplasty may be accompanied by a cure for diastasis. This step involves tightening the muscles for a firmer abdominal belt.

Abdominoplasty is not a solution to lose weight!

The patients affected by a tummy tuck are those who present with damaged skin or diastasis, who are not (or no longer) overweight, who want a flat stomach and are not afraid of having a scar on the abdomen. The scar left by the abdominoplasty is low and rounded, located at the level of the pubis and extending to the hips.

In the event that the excess weight is too important or that the skin and muscles are not distended, a simple liposuction will be indicated.

The abdominoplasty can be covered by social security if it is considered as restorative and not aesthetic, under certain conditions: the patient must present a case of major degradation of the anterior abdominal part and an abdominal apron, and this must follow weight loss after morbid obesity, an operation or pregnancy.