Tummy Tuck | Mini Tummy Tuck

A tummy tuck tightens up skin and muscle, while liposuction removes fat. While these two procedures have different objectives, they are often complementary to each other. During your consultation, your surgeon will determine if liposuction can help you enhance your tummy tuck procedure.

Scarring is inevitable after a tummy tuck, but our careful suturing and incision placement minimize scarring as much as possible. Your incision line will be low on your abdomen, in an area you can easily hide with undergarments or a bikini bottom. If you have previous C-section scarring, we’ll follow the previous incision to prevent creating a new scar. Our post-operative recovery instructions also include a scar protocol – tips to ensure scars heal as discreetly as possible. Most patients find the improvement in their abdominal shape and tone fully offsets any scarring that occurs.

We do not recommend pregnancy after a tummy tuck. During pregnancy, the abdomen must accommodate a quickly growing baby, stretching the skin and muscles. This rapid expansion can offset many of the positive changes provided by a tummy tuck. We recommend that patients wait to schedule their abdominal surgery until they are no longer planning on bearing future children. Pregnancy is safe after a tummy tuck; just not recommended.

The cost of your tummy tuck at Sarasota Plastic Surgery Center will depend on many factors, including the extent of your surgery, any additional treatments you plan to receive, and your case’s complexity. Our surgeons will provide a detailed estimate during your consultation.

A tummy tuck provides a dramatic abdominal transformation on its own. For a total-body transformation, many patients choose to combine this treatment with other procedures. After pregnancy, many women turn to a mommy makeover to restore their body to a more youthful shape. A mommy makeover combines procedures like a tummy tuck, breast surgery, and liposuction. A tummy tuck may also be part of a body lift procedure after massive weight loss.

During weight loss, fat cells throughout your body are affected. Weight loss and your ideal weight are determined by where your body stores fat. If your weight is located primarily on your hips or thighs, you do not need to lose as much weight. The important fat to lose is stored in the abdomen, especially high in the upper abdomen. Too much intra-abdominal fat, fat surrounding the organs, increases tummy tuck risks and limits the results our expert surgeons can provide. The upper abdomen begins to deflate and curves in rather than bulges as you lose weight. When you experience this issue, it’s a good sign that you’ve lost sufficient weight.

Tummy tucks are effective body contouring procedures for men or women with excess sagging skin, loose abdominal muscles, or small pockets of fat affecting abdominal appearance. Excess skin can be caused by factors such as pregnancy, weight fluctuations, or aging. Tummy tucks improve the contours of the body that are resistant to change with diet and exercise alone.

Tummy tucks aim to achieve a tight, firm abdomen to create a more pleasing body contour—something that weight loss and dieting alone can never achieve. Recovery time varies for each patient; however, typically, over the 6 months following your tummy tuck, swelling and bloating will decrease, and your new contours will become more visible.

During your consultation, our expert team will explain the different procedures to help you determine which surgery will be most effective for your unique situation. Mini tummy tucks are ideal for patients who have issues below the navel only. Extended tummy tucks are ideal for patients who have experienced significant weight loss and require tightening the skin around the navel, flank, and lower back.