- read about abdominoplasty-tummy tuck redo
- see before and after photos
- alternatives, risks, benefits & recovery
Due to lax regulations and constantly decreasing health insurance reimbursement many non-plastic surgeons have attempted to perform plastic surgery procedures on unsuspecting patients to compensate for lost income. There is some overlap in training and qualifications such as eyelid surgery – blepharoplasty – with respect to ENT Otolaryngologists, Ophthalmologists and Plastic Surgeons. Some surgical specialties do not involve any cosmetic procedures such as Neurosurgery and Orthopedic Surgery. Non-surgeon physicians and surgeons who perform cosmetic procedures not associated with their specialty are operating outside the scope of their training or field of medicine. Examples of this include Obstetrician – Gynecologists performing facial cosmetic surgery and Otolaryngologists or Ophthalmologists performing breast augmentation or abdominoplasty.


This patient had an abdominoplasty by a Gynecologist who failed to tighten skin above the belly button or remove the appendectomy scar. The skin incision extended beyond the boundaries of undergarments or bathing suits making it more visible. Unfortunately this could only be partially corrected. 50 years old, 5’6″ tall, 116 lb.
This patient had an abdominoplasty performed by an Otolaryngologist with inadequate removal of abdominal skin and high placement of the abdominal incision. Lowering the scar could only be done by stretching the belly button.
This 55 year old, 5’10” tall, 180 lb., male patient had previous surgery using the classical elliptical shaped skin excision by an unknown surgeon, which failed to removed sufficient excess skin or adequately tighten the abdominal muscles.
Read Dr. Stone’s blogs about abdominoplasty and belt lipectomy surgeryAbdominoplasty, thigh buttock lift and belt lipectomy
Cellulite
Abdominal Muscle Tightening and Diastasis Repair
The Difference between Panniculectomy and Abdominoplasty – Tummy Tuck
Abdominoplasty surgery can enhance your appearance and your self confidence. Realistic expectations are important to be happy with any surgery. As each patient is an individual, different results can be expected in each patient.
Alternatives
The alternatives are as varied as what could go wrong technically or as a result of a complication beyond the control of the original surgeon. If it is just a case of bad scarring some combination of scar revision and/or laser might be best. In some cases only a partial correction is possible.
Risks
As with any type of surgery there is the risk of infection or bleeding. Additionally there is the risk of seroma or blood fluid collections under the skin, bruising and skin loss especially at the lower edge of the abdominal skin below the belly button. Because the skin has already been stressed the major complication after redo surgery is really incomplete resolution of the problem creating a need for revision or redo surgery.
Some revisions can take an hour in the operating room and some revisions where the body has created a lot of scar tissue can take 6 hours. The situations are highly variable and I have treated patients in which the situation looked straightforward before surgery but in surgery so much scar tissue was present that the surgery was prolonged. Longer surgery is usually associated with increased risk.
Benefits
The benefits are not being self conscious in a bathing suit at the beach, when wearing midrif exposing shirts or when being intimate and achieving a more hourglass shape for women. As previously stated not all problems are completely correctable so the benefits of revision surgery are highly variable.
Recovery
The recovery will depend on exactly what is done at surgery. If it is a simple scar revision the recovery time can be as quick as 2 weeks.
Dr. Aaron Stone
Call today for a consultation!
9700 Venice BlvdCulver Citys, Los Angeles,CA 90232