5 Tummy Tuck Surgery Types Your Surgeon May Ask You to Opt for

Are you worried about irregular tummy shape or the sagged abdominal muscle post-delivery? If yes, you are not the only one to express concerns. A majority of people who have gained excess weight wish to get their toned body back. While some are able to attain their desire the others go on to opt for better ways like tummy tuck surgery. Let’s find out more about them.

The need for tummy tuck procedure

Our abdomen can easily become non-uniform when the muscle and skin suffer an injury or undergo stretching. As a result, you won't have a flat abdomen, regardless of your body silhouette. Although exercise and a proper diet can reverse the condition, the results are not optimum or guaranteed. As per surveys, these methods have proved fruitful to some and non-effective for others.

Perhaps, a better option to get away with excess fat and regain your flat abs would be to opt for tummy tuck surgery or abdominoplasty. Thanks to the advanced cosmetic sciences, doctors nowadays are able to perform surgeries that could bear positive results while ensuring ease to meet every patient's needs. These procedures help to restore your original beauty, and you can get back to becoming your old self.

Tummy tuck is one surgery where the doctors work on the excess skin around the upper and lower abdomen. They remove this excess and give a more youthful look. You don't need to deal with saggy skin, irregular abdomen shapes, or dried skin any more after undergoing abdominoplasty.

What are the major tummy tuck process types?

Doctors practice different tummy tuck approaches according to the patient's abdominal shape and condition, underlying health condition, and fat deposits. In this article, we will shed light on some of the common tummy tuck procedures widely practiced by the plastic surgeons worldwide.

1. Full Tummy Tuck

One of the most common types of tummy tuck surgery, full tummy tucks is suitable for healthy people with sagged or wrinkled skin in both upper and lower abdomens. Once the surgery is over, the surgeon will contour your midsection, and tighten the saggy muscles for a toned look. Although performed for both parts of the abdomen, full tummy tuck surgery helps to restore your original beauty and gives you the slimmest silhouette that you had previously.

The process of tummy tuck is as follows:

• The cosmetic surgeon makes a small umbilical incision above the belly button and another in the lower abdomen, much lower than your belly button.
• The expert then removes the skin between these two cuts.
• Next, he practices appropriate muscle strengthening and tightening techniques to give a flat shape.

Recovery time depends on your lifestyle, age, occupation, and others. However, as the incisions are small, they won’t take too many days to heal completely. If you are facing any problems, do let your doctor know about the same. As the incisions involve both the upper and abdomen, it is better to refrain from physical exercises as they can strain the muscles badly.

If you need to carry the drain for fat extraction, it is good to follow the entire lifestyle routine that the doctor has presented to prevent any internal injury.

2. Mini tummy tuck

The name mini tummy tuck itself elaborates this surgery is applicable for trimming and toning the lower abdomen, from right below the naval. The surgeon would recommend you to opt for this procedure if you have sagged and loosened skin or extra muscles forming a pooch. It is ideal for people who have proper weight or close to that but are concerned about fat accumulation in certain areas of the lower abdominal region. For example, women often experience sagged abdomen after delivery right below the naval.

A mini tummy tuck procedure can easily resolve this issue. It is one of the simplest cosmetic surgeries, usually performed by an experienced plastic surgery in three steps:

• The surgeon makes a small incision near the hip bone or the pelvic girdle
• After creating the incision, the doctor removes the excess skin with extreme precision
• The removed skin unravels the loose muscles beneath
• The expert then tightens the muscles to reduce sagginess in the lower abdomen

In this step, the belly button won't change its position or shrink in size. Also, the healing time in this surgery reduces to 4 to 5 weeks maximum, with only one incision involved. However, surgeons recommend patients to refrain from putting too much pressure on the lower abdominal muscles to prevent internal bleeding after undergoing this surgery.

3. Extended tummy tuck

An extended tummy tuck is a broader-scale surgery to reduce flanks and looseness in the abdominal muscles. It can easily help reduce the abundance of fat in the upper and lower abdomen without any further problems. In addition, this surgery will restore the actual contour of your abdomen and hips, ensuring you get a sleek silhouette.

However, remember this surgery is more complicated than a full tummy tuck procedure. Also, the incision created needs to be larger; hence, the scar takes more time to heal. You should give both the muscles and skin some rest after the surgery is completed.

4. Drainless tummy tuck

This method is one of the newest procedures through which doctors can easily remove excess fat and tighten the underlying muscles in no time. The only difference is in the absence of drainpipes.  

Steps to perform drainless tummy tuck surgery

• The surgeon carries out liposuction to eliminate the additional fat accumulated in the area around the abdomen.
• This works in sculpting the abdominal contours and reduces the surgical incisions needed to perform the surgery
• Next, the expert will create an incision along your abdomen to remove the excess fat and tighten the skin.
• The surgeon will then use multiple layers of sutures to avert the necessity for post-op drains.

The surgery involves an advanced technique where the surgeon leaves several connective tissues in the patient’s body intact while performing the tummy tuck method.

Known as scarpa fascia, this issue plays the key role in enabling the natural lymphatic drainage system of your body to avert the building up of fuel during the healing phase. This leads to faster recovery and sets you from bearing the hassle of facing post-surgical drain.

5. Fleur-De-Lis tummy tuck

If you have more fat deposited along the midsection of your abdomens, doctors are likely to suggest proceeding with the Fleur De Lis tummy tuck surgery. It is a feasible option to opt for when you have lost weight dramatically or are facing laxity along both horizontal and vertical lines of the abdomen.

Here, the incisions have the same structure as the Fleur petals. In addition, there is a horizontal cut along the pubic bone and a vertical cut along the midsection. These cuts give the plastic surgeons the added advantage of working on excess skin.

They can easily work on tightening the muscles from top to bottom and one side to the other. Partial inactivity is advisable for 3 weeks, which is longer than other surgical methods due to the incisions and shapes.

How to select the best tummy tuck process?

It would help to consider the fat accumulation and its position in your abdomen to choose the best abdominoplasty process correctly. You must focus on the recovery time. For example, go for the full tummy tuck method instead of extended surgery if possible. To make any decision, having detailed knowledge about all the procedures, their pros and cons, the involved cost, etc. is important.  

This is where your plastic surgeon can help you the best way. After examining your condition and analyzing the reports, the expert can suggest you the best tummy tuck procedure to opt for. Whether to follow his/advise will rely solely on your wish.

In any condition, visiting only a board certified plastic surgeon that performs the treatment in a duly accredited setup (hospital/clinic) would be the best move. Even if you have to spend a few additional bucks, you should go for it. After all, your appearance and your health will be at stake after going through the procedure. You would surely want the best results and the choice of an experienced surgeon would further increment the possibility of attaining the intended goal of a fatless body.

Wrapping Up!

Tummy tuck or abdominoplasty is one of the excellent cosmetic surgery procedures with which you can get back the correct shape of your abdomen, lose excess weight, and have a smooth surface. With five different processes described, you now have a slight idea of how the surgeons perform them, and what to expect from these treatments in terms of result.

If you too wish to get away with those extra pounds on your body, this information is just for you. To know more about tummy tuck, visiting a board certified plastic surgeon would be an ideal approach. He/she is the best person to clear all your doubts, apprehensions, and cost of the treatment. We at Plasticsurgery.in could help you appreciably in this regard.