I have had 5 kids and I have an umbilical hernia and my stomach muscles are split down the middle. There is a two inch separation. I have some exess fat but not much. I weigh 118 lbs and I am not overweight, but I want my stomach fixed.
I went to a plastic surgeon and he sent me away saying " you don't have enough extra skin for a tummy tuck, and you need to talk to a general surgeon about the hernia and muscle split."
Does that sound right to you plastic surgeons? Is that a standard response in this type of situation or should I get a second opinion?
My preference (as a general and plastic surgeon) is to fix the hernia using your own muscle tissue and tighten/repair the msucles at the same time. After that, the tummy tuck is done as usual.
I do not like to use plastic mesh to fix hernias because of problems with recurrence and infection, and my preference is to have control over the muscle repair because that is an important part of getting a nicely sculpted result.
