Abdominal Contour Deformity

Serving Chattanooga, Tennessee

he Plastic Surgery Group, P.C., in Chattanooga, Tennessee offers the latest skin care procedures, including JUVADERM.

As spring and summer approach, our thoughts naturally turn to our favorite warm weather activities. For many of us, this means slipping back into our bathing suits. If this is not a calming thought for you, you’re not alone. It’s at this time of year that gyms see a return of many absentees, and surgical body contouring specialists note increases in consultations.

If one area of our physique seems to receive special attention, it's the abdomen. Clearly, for a great number of us, the taut muscular abdomen is the holy grail of self improvement. It just seems that despite stringent diet control and endless "crunches" the paunchy abdomen will not relent.

So, what can plastic surgery offer for this problem? ---One of the biggest misconceptions patients have is that liposuction can solve all belly problems. Liposuction can only be effectively used in an abdomen with good skin tone and excess fat. If skin quality is poor, as is the case after pregnancy or significant weight loss, then fat removal alone will not produce the desired smooth tight abdomen. This leads to considerable dissatisfaction with a predictable result. This being said, liposuction is a good technique in appropriately selected patients. The best patient examples are young men, and women prior to pregnancy. As far as the surgeon’s ability to create the appearance of gym-honed abdominal muscles is concerned, it’s a fantasy. There is no "lipo" etching, sculpting or any other technique, which can reproduce what every trainer will tell you can only be accomplished with abdominal exercise and diet control. Abdominal liposuction is safely and routinely performed under local anesthesia supplemented by sedation. The postoperative course consists of compression garments and massage which continues for about a month after treatment.

By far, the treatment for most folks that request an improvement in the appearance of their abdomen is an abdominoplasty. Abdominoplasty or "tummy-tuck" is a multifocal operation. Through an incision in the lower abdomen, the musculature of the abdominal wall weakened by pregnancy, weight loss, or time, is tightened with permanent sutures. Once this is completed, the excess skin and fat of the belly wall is tailored away, and the navel is moved to a natural position. All stitches are placed beneath the skin to ease postoperative care. It is in this fashion, that the abdomen can reliably and permanently be returned to a youthful appearance. Abdominoplasties are also performed with local anesthesia and sedation. They require the use of post surgical drains and a compression garment.

The drains are typically removed in ten days to two weeks, with a compression garment worn for a month. No surgical intervention is without risk, but thousands of abdominoplasties are performed each year by board certified plastic surgeons with great results. Activities are slowly resumed over the month after surgery with a return to unrestricted exercise expected at about one month.

So, if the thoughts of donning last year’s bathing suit have got you blue, then you may want to investigate what a surgical body contouring procedure can do for you. For more information on Abdominal Contour Deformity, call our plastic surgery staff at (423) 756-7134 or (800) 634-3334. You can also e-mail us your questions and we will be in touch with you shortly.