BEFORE AND AFTER TUMMY TUCK WITH STRETCH MARKS SKIN
(See "What the Surgery Looks Like" at right.) Other variations include the "mini" tuck, which focuses on the pooch below the belly button and doesn't require as much skin or fat removal, and a lipoabdominoplasty, in which the same incisions as a traditional tummy tuck are made, but lipo is used to remove and contour fat. The skin flap is then stretched down and taut (think pulling taffy), a new hole is made for your belly button, and excess skin is cut away. Next, the skin is pulled back, fat is removed, and ab muscles are repaired. During the most common procedure - the traditional tummy tuck - a horizontal cut is made between the pubic bone and the navel that can range from a few inches to the entire length of the abdomen. "With many other procedures, you're back on your feet within a day or two, but with a tummy tuck, it will be about 10 to 14 days before you can do regular activities." There are a few variations on the procedure, depending on whether or not your stomach muscles have separated (and how severely) and the volume of extra fat and loose skin you have. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to playĪ patient will "have more discomfort than with many other cosmetic-surgery procedures," says Rod Rohrich, M.D., chair of the department of plastic surgery at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas. Here's what any woman considering a tuck - and that includes me - should know before she goes under the knife. The belly pooch has been a fact of motherhood for eons, so why does it suddenly feel like something we can't live with? Is surgery the only real solution? And what does it really involve? To answer these questions, I dug in and interviewed plastic surgeons, psychologists, fitness experts, and women who have been through the procedure. She feels that she gave up a lot with changes in her body during and post-pregnancy, and she doesn't want to wait years to reestablish how she used to look. "Now, the average woman having a tummy tuck in my practice is a young mom under the age of 35 with two small children. "Ten years ago, we were doing these procedures on postmenopausal women," says Phil Haeck, M.D., a Seattle plastic surgeon and president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Almost half (44 percent) of these procedures are done in women in their 20s and 30s, a sharp shift from a decade ago. The number of tummy tucks done in this country has climbed 88.7 percent since 2000, to 110,323 in 2009. What I found: An enormous number of moms like me are turning to plastic surgery. Instead I took to the Internet to research my options. No way was I going to shroud my mirrors in mourning for my previously flat stomach. "If it bothers you, just don't look in the mirror." Wow, thanks, doc. "Is there anything I can do?" I asked my ob/gyn at my six-month postbaby checkup, pointing to my Buddha belly in despondence. As a result, my belly bowed out, making me look five months pregnantĮven after I'd lost all the weight I'd gained.
But after giving birth to my second child in 2009 (a 10-pound baby boy), I was left with separated abdominal muscles, a common post-pregnancy problem called diastasis recti.
Resorting to non-natural means to fit into skinny jeans? Not me. As a longtime marathoner and triathlete, I've always taken pride in competing and keeping my body lean in the process. A tummy tuck? Are you crazy?" That's how I would have responded five years ago if anyone had asked for my personal take on belly-flattening plastic surgery.
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