Do I Need to Be Cleared by my PCP or Endocrinologist Before Surgery for a TT?

Your endocrinologist should be informed of your choice to proceed with abdominoplasty and will communicate with your surgeon about any special metabolic issues in the perioperative period.

Thank you for your question.  If you glucose control is normal and your A1C is below seven, then your risks of infection and healing problems are about the same as anyone else. It is helpful to get peri-operative instructions for your insulin management from your endocrinologist as the stress of surgery can cause alterations in blood sugars.  With cooperation between the endocrinologist, anesthesiologist and surgeon you should be able to safely have this elective procedure. Best wishes.

Thank you for your post. Diabetes is a disease that should demand a healthy respect from both surgeon and patient in plastic surgery. It is a disease that affects the immune system and can increase the risk of infection, a disease that affects the healing potential of a wound and can cause opening of a wound, and is a disease of the circulation that can lower the blood flow to the operated tissue and cause necrosis or tissue death. This needs to be managed as follows:1. Tight blood glucose control with diet, exercise, and medication. You need to see your internal medicine doctor regularly and make sure your diabetes is well controlled. 2. If you are overweight, then losing weight decreases your risk in tummy tuck surgery or any other surgery for that matter.3. If you have high blood pressure, this needs to be managed and well controlled by your internal medicine doctor as well.4. ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING!5. Consider with your surgeon HyperBaric Oxygen therapy pre- and post-op.6. Make sure you understand from your surgeon and anesthisiologist what medications you should take or not take prior to surgery.It is very possible to have a great outcome as a diabetic following tummy tuck surgery, but minimizing the risk is the most rational way of accomplishing this.Best Wishes, Pablo Prichard, MD