a man or woman considering having a tummy tuck procedure done, you have a couple of options available to help you decide if the surgery is right for you or not.
Abdominoplasty, also known as a tummy tuck, is a major surgical procedure used to flatten out and tighten the stomach muscles. Additionally, abdominoplasty is used to remove some excess belly fat and abdominal skin which has formed in the area. The result of abdominoplasty is a much flatter, tighter abdominal area.
- Abdominal Liposuction vs. Tummy Tuck
While a tummy tuck is the proper surgical procedure for many men and women, a less invasive option is to have abdominal liposuction.
Abdominal liposuction simply removes excess fat deposits in the abdominal area without involving the muscle tissue. This makes liposuction a much simpler and less pain intensive for patients. But may be less effective than a tummy tuck if you have muscle damage from pregnancy, for example.
Determining which procedure is for you should be based on an evaluation by a reputable plastic surgeon. Some criteria for both procedures are listed below to get you started ...
- Who Should Have a Tummy Tuck?
A tummy tuck procedure is generally the right one to choose if you have issues with buldging of your abdominal muscles or lax skin in the area. You may be a good candidate if you meet some or all of the following criteria:
* Excess fat in your abdominal area
* Excess skin on your abdominal area which either sags or has an over-hang
* Laxity of your abdominal skin caused by previous pregnancy, age, or weight gain or loss.
* Bulging of the true abdominal wall caused by pregnancy
* Bulging of the abdominal area caused by being over-weight.
- Who Should Have Liposuction?
Only patients who have a small amount of excess fat and good tone of the skin and muscles of their abdominal area should consider liposuction as an alternative to a tummy tuck.
It is also imperative that you have no bulging of the abdominal wall muscle or excess abdominal skin which is lax because both of these situations will cause your surgery to appear to have failed.
In order to be an appropriate candidate for liposuction, some plastic surgeons will consider ...
* If you are over-weight
* If you've ever been pregnant
* Your age
* If you have ever lost large amounts of weight
As you can see from the information listed above, a good candidate for liposuction simply needs to remove excess fat from their body.
However, the good candidate for a tummy tuck needs a more invasive procedure which will deal with issues of saggy skin and lax muscle tone. To evaluate which option is needed for your body you should schedule a consultation appointment with a Board Certified plastic surgeon in your area.
For men and women in San Francisco, tummy tuck can help achieve a beautiful, shapely torso through the skills found in an experienced, board certified surgeon. One such San Francisco plastic surgeon offers video information, BMI calculators, tummy tuck before and after pictures, and financing online at http://www.drkim.com
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Friday, February 1, 2008
What are My Tummy Tuck Surgery Options?
A Tummy Tuck or Liposuction - Which Procedure is Right for You?
It is very common for your abdominal area to collect fat and even begin to sag as you age. Childbirth will exasperate this issue greatly due to the stretching of the abdominal wall and abdominal skin.
While abdominal issues are common in older women, they can be addressed and corrected by an experienced plastic surgeon. A plastic surgeon can combine liposuction and tummy tuck procedures to greatly improve the look of your abdominal area.
While many women believe that abdominal liposuction and a tummy tuck procedure are interchangeable with each other, nothing could really be farther from the truth.
It is vitally important that you and you plastic surgeon work together on determining the correct procedure for your specific needs. However, before you contact your plastic surgeon's office to schedule a consultation, here is some information on both procedures to get you started on understanding which procedure is right for you ...
Who Should Have a Tummy Tuck?
While a tummy tuck is a much more invasive and expensive procedure than liposuction, you will find the results much more satisfying if a tummy tuck is the correct procedure for your situation.
In order to meet the criteria, you will likely need to meet some (or all) of the conditions below:
* Excess fat in your abdominal area
* Excess skin on your abdominal area which either sags or has an over-hang
* Laxity of your abdominal skin caused by previous pregnancy, age, or weight gain or loss.
* Bulging of the true abdominal wall caused by pregnancy
* Bulging of the abdominal area caused by being over-weight.
The only way to deal with each of the above issues effectively is through a tummy tuck. While liposuction can remove small amounts of fat, it will not correct the abdominal wall and muscle damage from pregnancy, large weight loss or the aging process.
Who Should Have Liposuction?
Only patients who have a small amount of excess fat and good tone of the skin of their abdominal area should consider liposuction as an alternative. It is also imperative that you have no bulging of the abdominal wall muscle or excess abdominal skin which is lax.
In order to be an appropriate candidate for liposuction alone, most surgeons will consider ...
* If you are over-weight, or only slightly over-weight
* If you have ever been pregnant
* Your age
* If you have ever lost large amounts of weight
As you can see, there is a clear difference in criteria between abdominal liposuction and a tummy tuck. By meeting with a Board Certified plastic surgeon in your area for consultation, you can choose the procedure which will yield you the best end result.
In Valencia, tummy tuck can achieve the smoother shapelier figure you want and should be performed by a board certified plastic surgeon. One such surgeon with an extensive experience in aesthetic surgeries practices at Town Center Plastic Surgery. They offer tummy tuck before and after pictures and information at http://www.lussiermd.com/.
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Tummy Tuck Facts and Your Figure
To fit in with today's image of a perfect body for a female, a tummy tuck may very well be a solution for a woman who has unwanted extra skin and fat after pregnancies or after weight loss.
"If you have had children and stretched your skin beyond return or you have been obese and lost a huge amount of weight I can see why you would opt for this surgery. It certainly will improve your self image and can improve your life over all." Bev M., 48, Atlanta, GA.
If you are considering moving forward with this cosmetic surgery procedure, you need to be sure that you deal with a very qualified and board-certified surgeon. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is a valuable resource for finding the right surgeon. Look for them online.
The steps during the procedure involve:
* anesthesia
* incision
* removal of tissue
* closing the incision (which can be done via sutures, skin adhesives, tape or clips)
As with any type of surgery, there are certain risks involved. You should be in good health and be a non-smoker.
If you do smoke, you should give up smoking well in advance of the surgery, and you should abstain from taking medications such as aspirin, which can thin your blood.
Of course, some risks for surgery are more common than others. Possible risks of a tummy tuck include, but are not limited to ...
* scarring
* infection
* persistent pain
* anesthesia risks
* nerve damage
* abdominal pain
* chronic swelling of the legs
You should know that you will have one or two thin horizontal scar lines across your bikini line. If you have had a Cesarean section, the scars may be integrated into each other. You may need a second incision depending on the amount of fat tissue in your upper abdomen. The scar will always be visible but will fade significantly with time.
The procedure can be done on an outpatient basis, but be sure to have someone with you for the drive home, and it is advisable to have someone close by for at least one or two days after the procedure. It takes approximately one to two weeks to recover, if your surgery is without complications.
The costs vary and you will have to do some research to find what fits your budget and expectations.
Paula H, Milan MI, says: "My sister had to have a bladder lift so she asked the doctors if she could also get a tummy tuck at the same time. They did it. Because they did it at the same time, she only ended up paying something like $1,500 for the additional surgery, because she already had the anesthetic and that, they said, was the most expensive thing involved in the surgery."
As mentioned above, you need to realize that a tummy tuck may not change your life dramatically; however, if you have the finances available and are in pretty good health overall, a tummy tuck can help your clothes fit better, exercise a little better, and make you feel great!
For tummy tuck, Atlanta women thoroughly research the local plastic surgeons. At Swan Center for Plastic Surgery in Atlanta, the surgeons are board certified with many years of experience. They offer before and after pictures, procedure information and financing options online at http://www.swancenteratlanta.com/
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Liposuction: Sculpting the Ideal Stomach
Unlike what some fitness commercials would like you to believe, creating a flat, toned belly in just minutes a day is physically impossible for most people.
When exercise fails, modern surgery can help you achieve a slender stomach in just a few hours.
If you've been religiously sweating at the gym, grunting through hundreds of crunches and sit-ups each week, and still seeing no results, you might just be out of luck. Although exercise and maintaining a healthy weight is always beneficial, no matter what you do, you can't sculpt specific parts of your body. You may indeed have a lean, powerful physique, but it might just be hidden beneath a layer of stubborn flab.
It is a rather common predisposition to develop a pot belly or love handles around the midsection. The effects of ageing, pregnancy, massive weight loss, and even stress will make the abdomen particularly resistant to toning.
If having a smooth belly is important to you and genetics are not in your favor, you might consider liposuction.
Liposuction is not a weight loss method and will not drastically lower the number on the scale, but it will smooth out stubborn lumps and small pockets of fat that refuse to melt away regardless of exercise and diet. The procedure is primarily used to sculpt the body, refining the skin so that your curves land in the right places.
The procedure is versatile. You can get liposuction on nearly any part of your body, from your neck to your toes, but the stomach is one of the most common areas.
Basic liposuction will target one specific area. The surgeon inserts a hollow tube into the body and gently moves it back and forth through the layer of fat, sucking out the cells. Afterwards, the surgeon may or may not stitch the incision closed. Sometimes it will be left open in order to drain excess fluid.
One of the major appeals of liposuction is the relative ease of recovery. Depending on the anesthesia given, some patients will be comfortable walking and caring for themselves immediately after surgery.
If only a small section is operated on, you could even return to work in as little as a few days. While you're healing, expect the area to be tender, bruised, and swollen. The results of the liposuction will be visible shortly after surgery, but it can take anywhere from a few weeks to months before all the swelling goes down.
As with many cosmetic procedures, there will be some minimal scarring and the possibility of prolonged numbness.
The major appeal of the procedure is that not only will you look great, but as long as you maintain a healthy body weight and exercise regime, the fat cells will never come back! The fat is permanently removed, but if you aren't careful, the remaining cells near the area can still plump up, causing some odd distortions.
So if nibbling on celery all day and pushing your body to the limits at the gym isn't trimming the fat anymore - don't beat yourself up. You might consider letting a surgeon sculpt out the flat stomach that you desire.
Liposuction, New Jersey, includes liposcultpture. This new technique is offered by Bergen County plastic surgery, Parker Center for Plastic Surgery with advanced lipoabdominoplasty. They offer liposuction information and before and after pictures to help you make your decision. http://www.parkercenter.net
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