Abdominoplasty Procedure and What to Expect

A tummy tuck, also known as an abdominoplasty, is a procedure most commonly performed to offset the negative effects that pregnancy has on the abdomen. However, both men and women choose abdominoplasty to regain their youthful mid-section they once had.

Dr. Howard Bellin’s Abdominoplasty Method

Dr. Howard Bellin begins by making a long, shallow, horizontal incision across the lower portion of the abdomen. After this incision, he will make a tiny, circular incision around your belly button, using extreme caution not to detach it from its underlying blood supply. Now, with your navel still in its original place, Dr. Bellin will lift the loosened abdominal skin over the muscle all the way up to the bottom of your ribs. This loosens the skin so it can be pulled down and exposes the muscle so it can be tightened.

Lax muscles are corrected by sewing permanent sutures into the tough material that covers your abdominal muscles, then folding the muscles back over on themselves. The results of this process also narrow your waist and flatten out your lower bulge if you have one. Think of it as an internal corset.

Next, all the extra fat and skin between your navel and the line above your pubic hair is pulled down and cut off. Doing this also eliminates stretch marks and may even remove some of your previous scars, such as those left over from an appendectomy or cesarean section. At this point, your remaining skin is pulled downward until it reaches the incision from your pubic area to your hips. The excess skin and fat are then removed and the incision is sutured together.

Your navel is now covered by skin since it was never moved. By creating a new hole directly above it, your navel can be pulled through to the surface and sewn back in the spot it was in before.

Scarring and what to expect

You will have a tiny scar which encircles your belly button and a more considerable scar that runs across where the long incision was made. This will result in a permanent, visible scar that can be hidden easily under a bathing suit, underwear, or other clothes.