Mr Adrian Richards of Aurora Clinics describes a tummy tuck surgery, also known as an Abdominoplasty, surgical procedure to remove excess fat and skin from the middle and lower tummy and waist giving an overall tighter and more toned looking tummy area. For more information or should you wish to book a FREE Consultation with our specialist plastic surgeon, please call us on 01844 214362.

Tummy Tuck Surgery

So today I’m going to be talking about abdominoplasty or tummy tuck surgery. This is often a little bit difficult for some people to understand because there are some technical phrases which I’m going to hopefully try and explain to you today.

So first thing, who would benefit from a tummy tuck procedure? Well, normally people who have lost a lot of weight and really their skin hasn’t recoiled to hug the abdominal contours. But more often it’s people who have had children. Pregnancy obviously does stretch the abdominal skin, and anyone who’s had a child will notice some laxity in the abdominal skin, particularly if you’ve had a Caesarean. A Caesarean tends to tether the scar to the underlying abdominal wall, and you tend to get a slight overhang over that scarring.

So, things to consider when you’re considering abdominoplasty. First of all, the muscles on your tummy. So normally after pregnancy, the two vertical muscles on your tummy will split a little bit. After your recovery period following pregnancy, they tend to go back to an extent, but they don’t always go back fully.

How do you test whether you’ve got this condition, which is known as divarication? Divarication means splitting of the rectus muscles. So the technical term is divarication of the recti. The way to do it is lie flat with your knees straight. Raise your ankles off the bed, this tenses your muscles, and feel is there a gap between the muscles. And the gap may be in the upper part, around the tummy button or in the lower part. If there is a gap, you’ll either feel a bulge between the muscles or a gap between the muscles.

If you have got this, normally the muscles will be repaired and put together at the same time as the operation. And actually many women who have had children have significant divarication, and because of the altered mechanics of the abdominal musculature do get a significant amount of back pain. This is caused by the muscles not being on the front and not pulling in adequately. So after repair, the back pain does improve significantly for some people. So that’s the first thing, the muscles. You can improve them somewhat with exercise, but if they’re very split, they won’t go back at all.

The second thing is the amount of skin excess. Now if there’s only a very little bit of excess, often a mini tummy tuck will be suitable for you. If there’s more skin excess, a full tummy tuck would be suitable for you. What’s the difference? In a mini tummy tuck, skin is removed, normally from the lower part of the tummy below the umbilicus. So an area of skin, normally eight centimetres, is left between the tummy button and the superpubic hair above your pubic hair. And in a mini tummy tuck, you don’t need an incision around the tummy button. Basically the lower part of the abdominal skin is removed. The umbilicus is divided from inside and brought down slightly, but there’s no scar around the tummy. And that’s suitable for people with a moderate amount of skin excess in the lower part of the tummy.

If you’ve got more skin excess, you need to be thinking more along the lines of a full tummy tuck. In a full tummy tuck, all the skin between the top part of the public hair and the tummy button is removed. The upper part of the skin is freed from inside. Often the muscles are repaired. Skin is brought down almost like a blind and sutured up. And the belly button, the umbilicus, which is kept on a stalk, tummy skin comes down like it’s a window or a blind, and a new hole is created for the tummy button. So, a question I’m often asked is, “Will the tummy button be in the same place?” Yes, it will be in the same place, but the skin around the tummy button is drawn down, so the tummy button and a new hole is created.

We’ll talk in a future episode about different shapes of tummy button. Surgeons are very preoccupied with this. I normally favour a vertical oval tummy button. So questions you need to think about if you’re considering a tummy tuck or abdominoplasty procedure, is what state are your muscles in? Do you think the muscles need repair? And the surgeon will discuss this with you as well and should examine these. And the second thing is, what sort of tummy tuck is best for you, mini tummy tuck or full tummy tuck? So we’ll talk about this in future episodes, and I have discussed tummy tuck procedure on our podcast and with a patient. So if you’d like to get a firsthand account, have a listen to those.

I hope this has helped you with it. If you have any inquiries or any questions about tummy tuck surgery, please e-mail us and I’ll answer them. Thank you very much.