Abdominoplasty

First, and foremost, combination surgeries can only be done on patients who are medically healthy. Once this is established certain surgeries can make a lot of sense to combine. This is due to the ability to benefit from one recovery instead of several, and for the financial savings. The cost of splitting the procedures is higher due to paying for anesthesia and operating room fees twice.

The most common combination procedure is any breast surgery with a tummy tuck. This combination is called a "Mommy Makeover" and is designed to restore a woman's figure back to her pre-childbirth state. Breast surgeries here are customized to what's needed, and can range from breast implants, to lifts, to reductions. The tummy tuck removes the extra skin and stretch marks, as well as tightening the abdominal muscles beneath. Patients should plan on taking ten days to two weeks off from work while recovering from this procedure.

This is a really common question whose answer depends on several factors.

Firstly, most Plastic Surgeons won't offer an abdominoplasty (tummy-tuck) to women who want to have children in the near future. This is because the extra skin allows the abdomen to stretch during the next pregnancy. If it's removed during an abdominoplasty further stretch marks might appear from the pregnancy that would have been prevented if the patient waited until her child bearing was over.

Secondly, the age of the patient and the skin's snappiness will also affect the surgeon's decision. This is because the skin's ability to shrink to the new size after liposuction is dependant on its tone. Older skin, or skin with poor tone, will not shrink in size after liposuction. In these instances its better to surgically remove the excess skin with a tummy-tuck to give the skin a tightened appearance.

As always the doctor performing these procedures should be a board certified Plastic Surgeon, and the patient's medical condition should be evaluated prior to surgery.

Three weeks after an abdominoplasty is usually when patients want to know how much longer they'll feel any surgical after effects. Each week after this procedure daily activities become easier. The first week involves getting over the anesthesia and caring for the surgical drains. The second revolves around getting back on your feet more and beginning to stand up straighter. Starting in the third week most people don't know how much they can do, without over doing it. Therefore people tend to do a little too much, get a reminder from their bodies like soreness or fatigue, then need to rest a little until they're ready to go on, Sometimes this is described as taking two steps forward, then one step back during the early recovery phases.

By four or five weeks most people are back in the swing of things and stop wearing their compressive garment by six weeks. The feeling over the lower abdomen slowly returns by six months and the scar continues to mature for nine months before beginning to fade.