Before and after abdominoplasty and liposuction in a 53-year-old woman. Believe it or not, this patient had lost nearly one hundred pounds and still had a major abdominal tissue overhang, called a “pannus” in medical terms. She called this area her “apron.” It limited her from sliding into a booth in a restaurant and from wearing normal pants, since she needed to “tuck it in” to allow her shirt to rest overtop.
Her abdominoplasty included a “panniculectomy,” which describes surgical removal of the excess tissue – in this case, it weighed over five kilograms (eleven pounds). She had minimal separation of the rectus abdominis muscles, so no muscle repair was performed. Liposuction removed excess fat from her upper and lower abdomen, pubic region, flanks and upper inner thighs from the front side.
The last few images show the tissue removed from her lower abdomen and the liposuction fat in cannisters. Since nearly eight liters of fat was removed using liposuction, she required an overnight stay at a hospital. Outpatient surgery centers such as San Francisco Plastic Surgery are limited by Quad A, our regulatory body, to removing less than five liters of liposuction aspirate in an outpatient setting.
Follow up photos are shown 4 months after surgery. Her scars are beginning to mature, and she is applying scar gel regularly. One specific highlight during her recovery period was going out to dinner with her family and not needing to request an extra chair for the booth – she easily slid in and sat with everyone else!
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
