Before and after mini-abdominoplasty and liposuction as part of a Mommy Makeover in a 47-year-old mother of four. She was fit and slender and had excellent muscle tone for four pregnancies but had minor excess lower abdominal skin that she had to “tuck into her pants along with her shirt.”
Everything truly is relative – many of us would love to have her abdominal contour! She was a former athlete and used to having six-pack abs and extraordinarily little body fat. After her children were all attending school full time, she felt ready to do something for herself.
She was hesitant to have a scar on her belly, given that she had all vaginal deliveries, but she really wanted a flatter tummy. A mini-abdominoplasty removed excess lower abdominal skin and fat, along with a mastopexy-augmentation as her Mommy Makeover procedure.
Any Plastic Surgery procedure that includes the term “mini” does not include all components of the “full” procedure. In this case, her mini-abdominoplasty procedure did not repair her rectus abdominis muscles. They were minimally separated, and she did not have significant rectus diastasis.
Lower abdominal skin and fat was removed at the same procedure as her breast and liposuction surgery. After surgery, she took a full month off work and resumed full exercise at six weeks.
Follow up photos are shown 9 months after surgery. Her scars are still pink and raised in the center – due to immature collagen that will naturally be replaced by mature collagen to create a softer, flatter, faded scar – but her scar is normal, since blood vessels sent to heal the tissue are still dilated. She is still applying scar gel and is very pleased with her decision to have abdominoplasty.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
