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Cosmetic Surgery New York: Photos: Before and After: Abdominoplasty
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A 40 year old mother of three. She is primarily concerned with loose skin and extra fat over the lower abdomen.
Appearance after high lateral tension abdominoplasty. Fat and skin were excised and the abdominal wall tightened. Notice the lengthy scar from hip to hip.
There has been a dramatic reshaping, but notice the slight irregularity in contour just above the incision at the center of the abdomen. Slight irregularities can occasionally occur and are usually remediable with secondary surgery. (This patient was satisfied with the surgical result and sought no revision.)
This mother of two was in her early thirties. She complained about a "pot" belly and stretch-marked, irregular skin. Notice that the stretch marks go high above the umbilicus ("belly button").
Following abdominoplasty with aggressive muscle tightening and skin removal, the abdomen is much flatter. However, note that stretch marks remain. Only when stretch marks are limited to the central abdomen below the umbilicus can they be completely removed with surgery.
From this Photo one gets a better sense of the changes to the abdominal wall caused by her pregnancies.
There is substantial contour improvement, but at the cost of a long scar.
A woman of 45 seen two years after a single, late pregnancy. She wishes to get rid of the "pouch" in her lower abdomen and tighten the protruding abdominal wall.
This early post-op Photo illustrates how young scars can look. One can also see a slight bunching called a "dog ear" at the end of the incision. This often resolves on its own (as id did for this patient), but sometimes require excision secondarily.
The side Photo shows how much the central abdominal muscles protrude.
Plication of the fascia has made the abdomen substantially flatter at its center.
This woman in her forties gained substantial truncal weight with her pregnancies. She wished to be rid of the loose, hanging skin of the lower belly (called a "panniculus") and hoped to thin her midsection.
An early post-op shows a lengthy scar that is still red. (This will generally fade significantly with time.) Liposuction performed over the hip area at the time of abdominoplasty has helped to somewhat redefine a waistline.
Notice that the central abdomen is still a bit thicker than might be thought ideal. This is because suctioning of central abdominal fat at the time of abdominoplasty can be dangerous to the blood supply of the skin. It is much safer to perform any needed liposuction some months later after all is healed. (The breast scars are from a mastopexy performed at the time of abdominoplasty.)
This woman of 41 had two very large pregnancies. They did little damage to her skin, but left her with a very protuberant abdomen secondary to musculo-fascial thinning and separation.
The contour improvement with abdominal wall plication is notable. Also note, however, that the high original location of the umbilicus led to the need for a higher than usual central abdominal scar. (This patient preferred this to having a separate, central abdominal scar from closure of the old umbilical opening.)
Though very pleased by her new shape, this patient had to accept some "hypertrophic" (raised) scarring at the central abdomen and around the umbilicus. The lower scar responded reasonably well to intra-lesional steroid treatment, while the umbilical scar was more resistant.
A man in his mid fifties works out regularly, but cannot make improvement in his lax abdominal skin through exercise.
The scar of his skin-only abdominoplasty has not yet faded totally.
This Photo better illustrates the degree of central abdominal looseness.
Substantial improvement is in evidence both above and below the umbilicus.
This patient in her fifties is concerned with her thickness through the middle and the hanging panniculus.
After "classical"abdominoplasty, (performed many years ago), she has much improvement, but less shaping than would have been accomplished with later, "anchor, high-lateral-tension" techniques.
The post-op angled Photo also shows that she could have benefited from secondary liposuction just over the central scar. Although she was not interested, many will enjoy a better result when a minor secondary lipoplasty is performed above the scar.
This 39 year old has all the problems that commonly follow childbirth. She has loose, extra skin, stretched abdominal muscles, and retained, truncal fat.
This is the result after abdominoplasty with liposuction over the hips, followed months later by central abdominal lipoplasty.
The scars of modern, high-lateral-tension abdominoplasty are often long. This patient was pleased to accept this scar in return for the truncal reshaping she achieved.
This patient is in her mid sixties. She loved the beach and wished to see improvement in the thickness and protrusion of her midsection.
Abdominoplasty together with suction lipectomy of the hips has achieved an appreciable improvement. She is able to hide the scar in her two-piece bathing suit.
Pre-op irregularities of the thighs were not a concern of this patient and were not addressed at surgery.
A patient in her early thirties after two pregnancies in two years.
Following abdominoplasty and some secondary liposculpture, the abdomen is significantly recontoured. The lengthy scar hides easily in the style of panties the patient prefers.
The result has been further refined by the patient's post-operative loss of 10 lbs. Although weight loss should, in general, precede any body contouring surgery, it is not unusual for patients who are encouraged by the results of their cosmetic surgery to become more committed to physical culture post-operatively.
This patient had a very large pregnancy in her mid forties. It produced extreme thinning of the abdominal fascia and substantial skin excess.
An early post-op Photo reveals the young red scar of abdominoplasty.
Plication of the abdominal wall in multiple steps and directions, together with high lateral tension skin excision has yielded this result.
This woman of forty had good skin quality, but was troubled by excess fat over the central abdomen and protrusion of her abdominal wall below the belly button.
The appearance 2 months following suction lipectomy of the central abdomen and "mini" abdominoplasty.
After the fatty suctioning, the lower abdominal wall was plicated through a more limited incision and the slight skin excess (produced by reducing the underlying prominence) was excised.
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