Can a Tummy Tuck Fix Botched Lipo in the Tummy Area?

1. What is the defect? The defect here seems to be mainly rippled skin. There does not appear to be a lot of loose skin. There does not appear to be a big abdominal wall defect. 2. What do the proposed operations accomplish? Lipo will take away more fat, but not redrape the skin. Tummy tuck will redrape the skin, but will give you a large scar, you have a high placed belly button, so you will probably have a vertical scar as others have noted. It is also a longer operation with a longer... more

The tummy tuck will help remove loose skin and tighten your tummy. However the contour deformities--wavy lines and lumps--will NOT be helped with a tummy tuck. These contour deformities are caused by areas of scarring where too much fat was removed and areas of fat left behind. I have had good luck with SlimLipo laser assisted liposuction treating contour defornmities left behind by previous liposuction. My approach would be to treat the abdomen first with SlimLipo and wait 6 months. The... more

I think yo u would be helped by an abdominoplasty, although you should be prepard for a small vertical scar in addition to the horizontal scar as you might not have enough excess skin to remove the area wher the incision is made around the belly button.

Yes it can be helped by having a tummy tuck to an extent though. Your skin will be tighter and you will have less rippling but some of the irregularities will remain at the expense of an incision. Also sinch you dont have that much loose skin you will be left with a small vertical incision somewhere between the new belly button opening and the inferior incision mark. Another approach would be to do a tummy tuck but "float" the belly button where you dont cut around the belly... more

I would have to agree largely with Dr. Yuan. I feel that a tummy tuck would largely correct the ripples above and below your belly button. However, the lack of skin laxity would problably leave you with either a small vertical scar below your belly button and a low transverse scar or the lathernative of a higher transverse scar. Return to your plastic surgeon and be very specific about having him or her describe to the incision alternatives of the abdominoplasty options. I have had gppd... more

You seem to have relatively good shape with minimal looseness of your abdominal skin. Some surgeons intentionally try to contour the upper abdomen with transverse ripple to simulate the "six-pack" look whan a patient doesn't have that naturally. I don't know whether this wwas the case with your surgeon but if not or if you just don't like the look, then you can see how much pulling of the skin it takes to smooth out the ripples. If you can smooth it out, then some sort of tummy... more

Yes, a tummy tuck will help with your rippling. Liposuction just removes fat from below the skin surface, and relies on the elastic properties of skin to shrink back to a smooth contour. All surgeons try to remove fat in an even fashion to avoid irregularities, but it is hard to be perfectly even. In younger patients with good skin (very elastic skin), soft irregularities will be hidden as the stretchy skin will smooth out the contour. (If you have some cellulite or contour issues, you... more

HI Samantha6566 - It appears as though the rippling in the skin may be fixed with fat grafting. This involves liposuction from the hips or back and then re-injecting the fat into the areas of rippling. As far as tummy tuck goes, it's difficult to asses whether or not you're a candidate from the photo. A tummy tuck can be the standard one with a full incision and muscle tightening or a mini-tuck with a small incision, but still with muscle tightening.

You could do more Lipo to try to even things off, but that probably won't make it a big difference. A full Tummy Tuck with a 'free float' of the belly button would help more, but would make a very long scar side-to-side. Repeat Lipo may be the best, but not great.

I can't imagine what kind of liposuction you got without tumescent unless it was SmartLipo or a similar kind. This drastic amount of contour irregularity is due to the use of large diameter liposuction cannulas during the surgery and likely as well as the lack of a criss-cross pattern. A mini tummy tuck will not help the unevenness. I would recommend liposuction, by someone much more qualified than your surgeon. They'll need to use small, 2.5mm - 3.0mm cannulas. I believe it will... more

Hi. Listen, I have done hundreds of tummy tucks, and I generally tackle difficult cases, but if you were my wife, I would tell you not to have an abdominoplasty to attempt to correct the irregularities. The risk/benefit ratio is not good. 1) You would only get partial correction of the irregularities. 2) You don't have much loose skin. 3) You would end up with a long horizontal scar and a short up and down scar in the middle (because you have little excess skin, a lot of the skin below... more