The tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty, consists of major surgery that requires general anesthesia, which also uses liposuction and requires a big surgical removal of excess skin. Usually, the result is a big scar going from the pubic area to the lower abdomen to the hips. Lax abdominal muscles will be surgically removed during a tummy tuck. Long before the liposuction procedure was invented, the tummy tuck was the method available for getting rid of excessive tummy fat.
For many patients, a liposuction of the stomach provides the same or better results than a tummy tuck. Liposuction is a safer procedure that will cause less scarring than a tummy tuck will. Liposuction is far more common today than tucks are.
Liposuction differs from a tummy tuck. Lipo removes the majority of the fat under the skin and above the stomach muscles. If you have good abdominal muscle tone, a liposuction can dramatically improve with a more natural look of the stomach area, plus minimal scarring. For the majority of liposuction patients, the natural elasticity of the skin in the stomach will contract smoothly so there isn’t a need to excise the skin. There will need to be a relocation procedure of the belly button. Recovery times after a liposuction is safer, faster, and simpler than the recovery after having a tummy tuck.
Only patients with an extreme amount of lower stomach skin, a great deal of stretch marks, or badly stretched abdominal muscles would do better with a tummy tuck instead of liposuction because of a sudden weight loss or pregnancy.
Tummy tucks will remove stretch marks; produce a flatter stomach wall by tightening the muscles, and remove large amounts of loose skin. Liposuction won’t remove stretch marks, is appropriate for those who have good abdominal muscles, and the stomach skin contracts to a degree that an excision won’t be necessary.
The disadvantages of tummy tucks are that they produce ugly scarring that gives a deformed appearance of the lower stomach and pubic areas if clothes are not worn. A belly button that has been surgically removed and re-placed doesn’t have a natural appearance. Tummy tucks have a higher risk of complications like blood clots in the lung, where lipo does not. Most of the time, liposuction alone will produce wonderful cosmetic results avoiding the risks and more expense that comes with a tuck.
Most patients are very happy with the outcome of a simple stomach liposuction. Even months after having this procedure, most women won’t need to have a subsequent tuck. The most expensive procedure is the tummy tuck – about twice the amount as liposuction. Also, the recovery time after a tuck when the patient can return to work or a normal daily schedule is two to four times longer than the recovery time for liposuction of the tummy.