Plastic Surgery Of The Body - Plastic Surgeon Blog

Does tummy tuck surgery also involve liposuction in most cases?

Question:
Does tummy tuck surgery also involve liposuction in most cases?

Answer:
Tummy tuck surgery does not have to involve liposuction but it often does. A tummy tuck or abdominoplasty is about contouring the abdominal wall. A standard or "full" abdominoplasty addresses the abdominal wall from the pubic region, where the incision is usually made, to the lower edge of the ribs below the breasts and laterally to the edge of the rectus abdominus muscles. Liposuction is often used to compliment the contouring accomplished by an abdominoplasty by treating adjacent areas. This allows the surgeon to contour the pubic region and the hips at the ends of and beyond the abdominoplasty incision. It is important to avoid liposuction in the center of the abdomen above the incision. Liposuction in this area during an abdominoplasty greatly increases the risk of healing complications and of necrosis of skin between the belly button and the incision. Sometimes after an abdominoplasty the fat layer in this area remains thick. In such cases, it is safe to return for a staged liposuction procedure after healing from the abdominoplasty to further improve the contour of this area. There is a variation on the standard abdominoplasty procedure known as a lipo-abdominoplasty. With this procedure, liposuction is performed on the entire anterior abdominal wall and a mini-abdominoplasty is also performed. With a mini-abdominoplasty, it is safer to perform extensive liposuction at the same time, including on the areas of the central and lower abdomen, because the skin is only mobilized or separated from the muscles from the incision line to the belly button. Determining which one of these options would be best for each individual case is based on the amount and location of extra skin and fat and of the abdominal wall and on the quality of the skin in the treatment areas.