There is no surgery available to return your body back to when you were age 12. No surgery can give you flat wash board abs. The goal of cosmetic surgery is to have a safer surgery with less scarring and to have an improved, flatter appearance.
During a tummy tuck procedure, the lower abdomen is cut in half, pulled down and put back together with stitches. You will get a new belly button with scars around it and a scar from hip to hip. In almost everyone, it’s a long, horrible scar. This is surgery from the 1980’s when advanced liposuction and sculpting had not yet been invented. The basic reason why so many surgeons perform tummy tucks is because of the myth that after liposuction, the skin will hang. But is it true that skin hangs after lipo?
Have you seen women that were pregnant? Have seen women who are pregnant with twins? Did their skin hang down to their knees after they delivered? Most women's skin retract except for patients that had a c-section. The c-section scar shifts the fat cell up thus creating an over-hang ( this overhang is corrected by simply removing the fat and the skin contraction occurs.).
Human skin is elastic and remains elastic for a long period of time- sometimes into our 60’s. Due to the elasticity, most, if not all patients achieve a significant contraction of their skin. Muscle tone determines the smoothness of our skin. Therefore exercise, specialty core exercises, significantly aids in the appearance of a flatter, smoother abdomen.
Here are the reasons why we do not recommend tummy tucks as an initial procedure:
Have you ever seen a tummy tuck scar without the tattoos or without clothing covering the scars? Have you seen the new belly buttons after a tuck? Look at the pictures above and compare to our results of advanced liposuction.
If tummy tuck is "so great " why does a patient have to get a large tattoo or why does a person have to hide the scars with clothing after surgery?
Tummy tuck prices can start at $7k and up, and for that amount, you should be able to show your body without the tattoos or clothing items covering the scars.
The downtime for time for a tuck is about 4 to 6 weeks as compared to liposuction which is a few days.
The risk of death is the highest after a tummy tuck surgery due to blood clots.
The risk of the wound separating is extremely high after a tuck.
Your pubic skin and your vagina is more likely to be pulled upwards due to scar tissues.
A tuck is performed under general anesthesia which has a risk of one not waking up from the anesthesia as compared to liposuction which is performed under local anesthesia. Liposuction is affordable since there are no additional fees for general anesthesia, operating room, and recovery room.
The alternative to tummy tuck is called the mini-tuck which is performed after complete healing from liposuction and only if there is a need to tighten the skin. A small mini tuck is performed under local anesthesia with little downtime and minimal scars. We recommend this option to some patients.
Most patients have been told that “your abdomen muscles are wide open” and it will need to be corrected with a tummy tuck. This is inaccurate. Bear in mind that the two abdominal muscles or the rectus muscles were never together to begin with. However, after having children those muscles do become loose. Still, that’s not a good reason to have a tummy tuck. There are physical therapies and exercises one can do to strengthen the rectus/abdominal muscles.
Not everybody is created equal and no body is perfect. We do have to appreciate some imperfections within our bodies.
For the reasons listed above, we don’t recommend tummy tucks- the surgery of the 1980s. We always recommend advanced tumescent liposuction; your skin will not hang. If it does, we can revise the surgery for free.
We have performed over 6000 surgeries and very rarely do we go back and remove the skin. Dr. Araya does not perform tummy tucks or abdominoplasty. Just take a look at our before and after pictures.
