Patient 12 Gallery

Before and after abdominoplasty and liposuction in a 30 year old woman who had gained and lost 40 pounds several times in her teens and twenties. Her weight had been stable for three years and she was committed to a healthy lifestyle and maintaining her current weight. Her lower abdominal overhang of skin and fat, stretch marks and residual stubborn fat did not match her age or status of never being pregnant. She was “not looking to be a supermodel, just the best me I can be!”

An abdominoplasty removed her excess lower abdominal skin and fat, corseted her rectus abdominis muscles back together in the midline, redraped her abdominal skin tightly downward, and removed excess fat via liposuction in her upper and lower abdomen, flanks, pubic region and upper inner thighs.

Early results are shown just two months after surgery. She had resumed exercise and her nerves are starting to wake up. She is already thrilled with her results and very ex cited to learn that she still has firm swelling (“edema”) that will continue to resolve over the next several months.

She knows her skin goes darker when she has a cut or a bruise, commonly seen in forearm oven burns. Her incisions are hyperpigmented, darker than the surrounding skin. This is very common in darker skinned individuals. The dark pigment is deposited as the body heals and will slowly fade over the next 1-2 years with sun avoidance and scar therapy. Even though this patient had not been pregnant, an abdominoplasty with full rectus muscle repair (“rectus fascial plication”) was appropriate to perform in this patient. She did have significant separation of her muscles from past yo-yo fluctuations in her weight.

Having her muscles repaired in the midline will not interfere with future pregnancies and she will likely bounce back well after her first pregnancy. If she has additional pregnancies with stretching apart of her abdominal muscles, the repair could always be redone if needed through her existing scars, but she might not need this at all!