Tummy tuck surgery

While losing weight is on the top of everyone’s list of goals, there is one negative part of losing weight that most people try not to think about: excess skin. Your skin is flexible and generally has some elasticity. This elasticity allows the skin to snap back into place after it has been stretched out. When you have gained an excessive amount of weight and you are still in your twenties, your skin may have enough elasticity to follow the decrease of fat in you and not to be excessively baggy. Folks who have reached their thirties forties and fifties will have a more difficult time losing the excess skin. That’s when a tummy tuck, also called Abdominoplasty surgery, may be necessary.

After weight loss surgery, you may find the weight loss success exhilarating. You might shop for new clothes as your body shrinks and, for the first fifty to one hundred pounds you might not see any indication that your skin is hanging loosely around your stomach. After than point, however, you may see pounds coming off the scale in rapid succession but notice very little difference in terms of clothing size. You may also begin to feel subconscious about your body and how you look in certain outfits. For these reasons, your primary care physician may suggest that you have a tummy tuck once you are closer to your weight loss goal.

Tummy tucks are considered plastic, or cosmetic, surgery. They are not used for actual weight loss, although a tummy tuck might result in weight loss. During a tummy tuck, a large incision is made in your abdomen. Generally, this incision will extend from hip to hip. Your surgeon will tighten your abdominal muscles by pulling them together and stitching them in place. He or she will then remove excess skin you have and possibly use liposuction to remove small areas of excess fat; once that is done, the edges of the incision (which are now further apart since your excess skin was removed, are sewn back up together.

It is generally suggested that only those people who are very close tot heir ideal weight have the tummy tuck procedure. It is not advisable for morbidly obese patients to have tummy tuck surgery as a means of weight loss. And just because you’ve had a tummy tuck, don’t think that means you’ll be thin forever, no matter how much you eat or how little you exercise. Your skin can easily stretch again and fat can certainly accumulate in that area again. If you are not careful with your eating and exercising habits, you may find that you stretch your stomach back out and recreate the situation you were trying to escape from.

You may notice other parts of your body laden down with excess skin after weight loss. Your upper arms, thighs and back may be suffering from the same problem as your stomach. There are procedures that you can undergo to reduce the amount of excess skin in these areas also, but none of them are quite as large scale as the tummy tuck, since the area the tummy tuck covers is greater.

It’s important to discuss the possible complications that could result from tummy tuck surgery. Since this is an invasive procedure, you will need to be anesthetized. Additionally, you will need some recovery time and may be asked to wear tight bandages around your abdomen post surgery. Once you’ve considered the costs, risks and benefits of tummy tuck surgery, you may want to talk to your insurance company to find out if they consider Abdominoplasty surgery an insurable expense.