An abdominal wall correction or tummy tuck involves removing excess skin from the abdomen.
Depending on the severity, all the skin between the navel and the pubis is removed – this is a standard abdominoplasty – or only a limited amount of skin above the pubic area, a so-called mini-abdominoplasty.
The result is a long scar very low in the abdomen and a small scar in or around the navel. This operation is therefore only possible if the skin just above the navel can be pulled right down to just above the pubic area. In other words there needs to be enough skin available in the area around the stomach.
Like the other operations, this procedure is carried out under total intravenous anaesthesia as an outpatient.
Due to the large amount of tissue that is undermined, two drains are inserted. These are connected to a flat vacuum bottle which can be easily hidden under the clothing. Contrary to what most patients think, the post-operative pain is usually very manageable and most patients can cope with light household work the very next day.
In this operation only an ellipse of skin is removed above the pubic area. The skin above this is undermined as far as the navel and pulled tightly downwards. The scar is placed as low down as possible.
This is therefore a less extensive operation than a classical abdominoplasty and it does not alter the skin in the abdominal area.
Drains are usually inserted during this operation too.