Minneapolis Mini Tummy Tuck doctors

Just as "mommy makeover" can mean one of several kinds of breast surgery plus one of several different tummy tucks, and may include liposuction or other surgical choices, each woman has different changes in her body for which specifically-tailored operations are recommended.

Many women require only breast implants to restore (and occasionally increase) breast volume lost after pregnancy and breast feeding one or more children. Others will require breast lifts, and I believe that most aesthetically-pleasing breast lifts are usually achieved by full Wise-pattern mastopexy (anchor lift). Other types of modified lifts are possible, but all too often women who are best served by a full lift are "talked-into" a modified, vertical, lollipop, or Benelli (donut) lift by an over-enthusiastic plastic surgeon who seems to try to make every woman who needs a lift "fit"into a certain kind of operation.  Better to tailor the operation to the exact anatomic needs of the woman's breasts rather than to take the "one operation fits all" approach. The Wise pattern allows tailoring of the breast skin in vertical AND horizontal dimensions, whereas the vertical lift tightens in one dimension only! Crescent lifts are essentially worthless since they achieve no more than a millimeter or two of lift, and often allow an unscrupulous doctor to charge for a "breast lift" when this is simply the incision used for the augmentation!

As other have stated, implants do NOT lift breasts, but they can fill loose skin and give the appearance of more lower pole breast volume and a less saggy skin brassiere. But if a lift is needed, there will be more incisions and more scars to achieve a higher, tighter, more "perky" look. If there is still inadequate breast size after lift, lift plus implants can yield a pleasing improvement.

Over half of women can achieve their breast goals with implants alone; the remainder require a lift, or a lift plus implants.

For the abdomen, mini tummy tucks are VERY rare for the post-pregnancy tummy. Much more common are full "standard" tummy tucks (with muscle tightening from breast bone to pubic bone), or even extended tummy tucks where the incision extends more to the side of the hips to tighten loose skin here as well. Liposuction of the hips or thighs is added when necessary or desirable! But mini tummy tucks usually leave a very unattractive loose bulge in the upper abdomen that a full tummy tuck minimizes. Mini-tucks are designed to appeal to those women who don't want the expense and scar of a full tummy tuck--and then ask questions on RealSelf about dog ears, bad results, and residual loose skin. Just say NO!

So, after writing all of that, I have to say that I agree most with Dr. Rand, who wrote a much more succinct answer. Bottom line: if your family is complete and you are thinking about a mommy makeover, see one or more ABPS-certified plastic surgeons and ask to see lots of breast and abdominal surgery before and after photos. Get your questions answered, and don't expect that you will get more for less. Best wishes!

Thanks for supplying the photos; they help me see what is going on. The unfortunate reality is that while your healing appears normal for this point in your recovery, your result will leave you with residual loose skin, a "mini" scar that is scarcely shorter than a "full" tummy tuck scar, and with you (correctly) questioning if you should have undergone a full tummy tuck without the abdominal liposuction.

I believe you should have undergone a full tummy tuck, liposuction of the hip rolls (love handles), muscle sheath plication from breast bone to pubic bone, umbilical transposition, and sub-Scarpa's direct fat excision. This would have likely cost the same or less than you spent (at least in our facility), and yielded (I believe) substantially better results. I don't tell you this to make you dissatisfied with your own surgeon or result, but rather to educate other prospective patients who may be reading this answer, all of whom, like you, get seduced with tales of "shorter" scars, no "bulls-eye" umbilical scar (there IS a better way), "lower" cost, and then end up spending the "saved" cash on liposuction of what SHOULD have been COMPLETELY removed with a "standard" tummy tuck!

Drain removal at 1 day is one tip-off that this may not have been a carefully thought-out procedure, since there is considerable fluid within the tissues with body jet liposuction, as well as a potential cavity in the area of skin excision that cannot "stick down" in just one day. You have subcutaneous blood and fluid that has turned into scar fibrosis (that is difficult if not impossible to remove with subsequent liposuction of any type) that will soften to a degree over 6-12 months, but will not "go away." And, unless your "mini" tuck included muscle sheath plication from the umbilicus to the pubis (doubtful, since liposuction was performed, this tissue layer was not lifted up), your abdominal wall is still loose and stretched by your 2 pregnancies. Without this looseness being sutured tighter, your abdomen cannot become flat by simply emptying-out the skin  and taking a small skin ellipse out to try to tighten it a bit.

Let things settle for 6-12 months, keep your scar out of ultraviolet exposure (or it will turn brown permanently) until faded maximally, and see one or more experienced ABPS-certified plastic surgeons for advice on the next step if you remain dissatisfied. Best wishes!

I do very few mini tummy tucks, and the reason is in the title of my answer. If you are a true candidate for a tummy tuck, doing less than a full, complete tummy tuck incision, muscle tightening, and umbilical transposition will almost always fall short of the patient's expectations, unless they really didn't need a tummy tuck in the first place! Sometimes a doctor tries to "sell" a patient what they "want" rather than be honest and tell them what they need for the best result. Guess who gets the prospective patient's business, and then try to guess why us "real" plastic surgeons are here answering questions on RealSelf from unhappy patients!

Less skin removal equals less of a result, and often the "mini" removal stretches and distorts the belly button and can still leave lateral dog ears (because the surgeon is trying hard to leave the scar short(er) than a "standard" tummy tuck scar, which is longer for a reason--it is NEEDED to remove the full amount of loose skin, expose the abdominal wall so that proper muscle plication can be performed, and a vertical scar avoided (the "old" belly button location should be completely removed, not left as a vertical scar).

If you want or need skin removal to be as complete and thorough as possible, you already know you need a full tummy tuck! Also, it generally costs less to do the correct operation rather than "hoping" a lesser one will do the job and having to take time off work as well as pay for a second operation!