JC is a 27 year old mother of two from Miami Florida, who had a tubal ligation procedure performed to improve the appearance of her midsection. She is otherwise healthy and her previous medical/surgical history was significant only for two c-sections during childbirth. She hated the appearance of her loose skin and stretch marks which extended all the way up to her upper abdomen. She also wanted to achieve a flatter appearance to her profile as after the pregnancies she felt she had a barrel type look.
I explained that I would be able to address all of those issues and would also perform some contouring of her hips, waist, and bra strap area since she was starting to develop a skin fold in that region. The only limitation would be with her stretch marks. I would be able to remove all of the ones between her c-section scar and to just above the belly button but the ones above, although much tighter, would remain.
At the time of surgery, which was done under general anesthesia, I made an incision just below her old c-section scar and continued it laterally but in a very low-lying position so as to be easily hidden by a bathing suit. I also made an incision around her belly button. At the lower incision I used laser to get to just above the muscle layer and then stayed at that level going up to her ribcage being careful to go around the belly button, thus exposing the entire abdominal muscle layer. I then felt the looseness of the muscles and marked out how much tighter they should be. I then performed tightening with repair of the stretched muscles. After this I placed the pain pump which would offer post-operative pain relief and removed the excess skin. The wound was closed in multiple layers so as to take tension off the skin closure in hopes of achieving a thin scar. Drains were positioned to allow any excess fluid to drain out until the body had healed enough to do this on its own. A new opening was made in the skin for the belly button and it was brought out and fixed in place. A gentle compression garment was placed.
The Miami tummy tuck patient was instructed to stay in a recliner for the next several days and to constantly maintain a posture of being bent at the waist.
I saw her back on the second post-operative day and changed all the dressings and checked how the fluid was being drained. On the 4th day I removed the pain pump and both drains on the 10th day post surgery at which point she was able to straighten up completely. I then kept a close follow up for the next 2 weeks and have included her postoperative pictures at her 8 week period.
She now has flattening of her abdomen with loss of hip bulges and loss of bra strap fold. She also has tightening of her skin with loss of 80% of her stretch marks. I expect her to continue to improve as the swelling continues to subside and her incision continues to heal. In a year’s time I expect it to be barely visible.