Abdomen (tummy) surgery
Abdominoplasty, liposuction in Lyon and Geneva
Abdominoplasty (“tummy tuck”)
Significant weight variations and pregnancies often result in a deformed abdominal profile, characterised by excess and loose skin, as well as slackened muscles exacerbating the appearance of a bulgy tummy.
Abdominoplasty is a technique that corrects these two problems.
During a pre-operative consultation, the surgeon explains which type of abdominoplasty is best suited to your needs (combined with liposuction if there is any excess fat; with an incision in the pubic area only; or with an additional incision around the belly button). Only the abdominal wall muscle tightening that is performed during the surgery might result in post-operative pains. These will usually last for about two weeks.
Resuming a normal activity is possible after few days following any abdominoplasty that does not involve tightening the abdominal muscles.
Procedure
Depending on the abdominoplasty technique, the procedure is performed under general anaesthetic, and lasts for between one and a half and two and a half hours. The hospital stay is usually between 24 and 48 hours. A 24-hour surgical drain prevents the risk of haematoma. The use of specific healing products will help the scar to fade and whiten over the period of a year so that it becomes understated in appearance.
Abdominal liposuction
Significant factors, such as a sedentary lifestyle, stress or an unhealthy diet, can be responsible for local fatty deposits that are difficult to get rid of, despite a healthy diet or intensive physical exercise.
Liposuction, which is the extraction of the fat from the subcutaneous deep layers, can solve these problems.
A pre-operative consultation is essential to assess the subcutaneous fat layer and to confirm that the excess deposits correspond to the type of fat that liposuction can remove, rather than to intraabdominal fat, which can only be dealt with by means of a healthy diet.
Procedure
The surgery can be performed under local, general or regional anaesthetic in conjunction with a spinal block, depending on the wishes of the patient and the extent of the body areas to be treated.
It is an outpatient procedure lasting for one to one and a half hours, depending on the technique used; the patient can be discharged later that day. The insertion of the subcutaneous cannula, that extracts the excess fat, is done through incisions of a few millimetres in size that are made in some invisible places.
Recovery
In addition to the absorbable sutures and waterproof dressings applied on the incisions, an abdominal compression garment must be worn for three weeks. Bruises appearing after few days will disappear in three to four weeks.
The early oedema developing on the treated areas tends to prevent the appreciation of the final result, which will be fully noticeable 6 months later.
The recovery is straightforward and the patient can resume professional activity within 48 hours and physical exercise after one month.
Body lift
Following significant weight loss as a result of a diet or a bariatric surgery (gastric band, sleeve gastrectomy or bypass surgery), the skin envelope is no longer suited to the patient’s body shape. Some surgical techniques allow removal of excess skin as a result of incisions made in strategic places, mainly in areas concealed by underwear. Circular abdominoplasty or total body lift is the answer not only to tighten the lower part of the abdomen but also to reshape the buttocks and tighten the lateral part of the thighs.
During the medical consultation, your surgeon will explain in detail the exact places where the incisions will be made; the technical approach; and the outcome you can expect. Complementary procedures on other body parts, such as breast or arm lifts, can be carried out in conjunction with a circular abdominoplasty.
Procedure
Performed under general anaesthetic, the procedure usually lasts for between three and five hours depending on the scope of the surgery. A drain is inserted into the abdominal area and removed two days later. A 48-hour hospital stay is required to prevent any risk of complication.
Recovery
The waterproof dressings will be changed by a home-care nurse three times a week over 15 days, and the sutures, mostly absorbable, will be removed during a follow-up visit at the surgeon’s practice. A contention garment is prescribed for three weeks. Physical exercise is not advised for a period of six weeks in to prevent any stretching of the scars. With an experienced surgeon, complications are very rare with this type of surgery; however, the scar width sometimes requires to be corrected secondarily under local anaesthesia to become more understated.