Tummy tuck surgery is a hot topic in plastic surgery and one of the most popular cosmetic surgery operations performed around the globe today. There are different procedures which are used and if you are not familiar with them, it can be impossible to understand what you are hearing or reading about this area of plastic surgery.
This article explains the effects patients want from the mini tummy tuck, the general procedures surgeons use, and how this is different to the normal tummy tuck surgery. This will be a quick way to understand fundamental differences between these two popular types of plastic surgery.
A mini tummy tuck is felt to best slim the area between the navel and the pubic bone. The type of person who chooses to have it could be a mother who has had several pregnancies which have stretched the abdominal muscles, meaning it is very difficult to return to the pre-pregnancy shape by exercise and diet alone. Older patients might also choose this operation, to help aging tummy muscles return to a firmer contour, or those who find they have mild weight fluctuations. The operation in all cases aims to give a toned, taught tummy shape and involves great surgical skill for acceptable results.
The operation involves making a horizontal incision usually into the area above the bikini line, between an average 10 to 15 centimetres in length. The surgeon then removes excess skin and any excess adipose (fatty) tissues sometimes in combination with liposuction techniques. During liposuction a cannula is moved around inside the adipose tissue to loosen it then the tissues are removed altogether by suction through the body of the cannula. If there are damaged abdominal muscle structures, for example, from many pregnancies, the muscles can also be strengthened by suturing techniques during the operation.
The operation takes much less time on average then the full tummy tuck. It may last an hour or so, whereas the tummy tuck tends to push more over the two hours marker. The navel is generally not repositioned, whereas this is more often needed during the full tummy tuck and accounts for some of the reason why the time on the operating table is quite different. The incisions used also tend to be smaller than those for the full tummy tuck.
Despite the name, a mini tummy tuck is still a full blown operation under full anaesthesia. Any operation, cosmetic or not, carries risks that can never be eliminated from the equation, even with the best surgical team in the world. Good patient education by the surgical team before the operation is therefore ethically essential. This article should have informed you about the mini tummy tucks effects, how it is generally performed, how it is different from the full tummy tuck and that it still carries risks despite its friendly sounding name. To obtain more precise information, of course, patients need to see their doctor and/or their surgeon.
RS Brown is no spring chicken and writes with dedicated team on the lengths people go to hoping to look young and feel better. The team examine the benefits against some clear evidence of risks from cosmetic surgery and give a critique of information about the contraversial world of surgery abroad.