Loose skin above the umbilicus requires a full tummy tuck. Skin tightening with lasers wil give about 15-20% improvement, so best for patients with very mild sagging.
Loose and saggy upper abdomen post-Tummy Tuck
I had a full Tummy Tuck 6 months ago. After the procedure, my surgeon told me that since my belly button was 'high' to begin with, he was able to leave it intact after the Tummy Tuck. My fear is that this really translates into, "I didn't remove as much skin as I should have." I now have a taut lower abdomen, but the entire area above my navel is loose and saggy.
Last week, my surgeon performed laser skin tightening on my upper abdomen (his solution). I am not at all convinced that this will remedy the problem. Is this a normal result, or am I right to have expected better? I am not overweight and I have done regular abdominal workouts both pre and post surgery. Thank you!
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10 answers to “Loose and saggy upper abdomen...”A: Straighten out the belly button as well with a full tummy tuck
I agree with what everyone else has said, the mini-tuck is only for excess skin below the belly button. In order to get adequate pull on the upper abdomen, you must perform an umbilical float (never enough) or a full tummy tuck.
A: I hope your laser treatments are at no charge
Dear Sioux, You are far from overweight. The two pieces of information you have left out are your age and whether or not you had full term pregnancies. If you are over 50 or have had pregnancies it is highly unlikely that your skin is going to contract even with the laser treatments... more
A: You only had a mini tummy tuck and the upper abdomen wasn't addressed
When a patient comes in for abdominal improvement, there are basically 3 options for them: 1. Liposuction - this only removes fat and doesn't tighten muscles or remove excess skin. It is limited to those patients who would benefit only from this and have good skin elasticity. This would not appear to be... more
A: You did not have a "full" tummy tuck.
To siouxmac, Hi. Your surgeon may have had good reasons for limiting the surgery to the lower abdomen. But you cannot tighten the skin of the upper abdomen while leaving the belly button undisturbed. I have had a couple of patients who only wanted a lower (or... more
A: mini vs typical abdominoplasty
A mini abdominoplasty (where there is no incision around your belly button) will not address significant skin excess in the upper abdomen. The dissection of a mini goes to about the level of the belly button, pulling the skin inferior to the belly button tight. It is usually not effective in addressing... more
A: No nonsurgical solution will help
The photograph indicates that your surgeon performed a mini abdominoplasty. This removes only the portion of tissue below the belly button. All belly buttons are located in essentially the same place and your surgeons explanation that it was "too high" is concerning. I often perform... more
A: A mini-tummy tuck does not tighten the upper abdomen
It seems that at your initial procedure you only had a mini-tummy tuck. if you did not have an incision around your umbilicus, then the upper abdomen was most likely not touched- muscle was not tightened and the excess skin was not removed. I don't beleive that laser tightening is going to give you the same... more
A: Stay the course and give it time…you are only a few days since your tummy tuck revision!
Thank you for your question. Stay the course and give it time…you are only a few days since your tummy tuck revision. A standard tummy tuck corrects three tissue layers of the abdominal wall: loose skin, excessive fat, and separated abdominal wall muscles. Typically, the tightest and flattest abdomen... more
A: mini vs. full tummy tuck
First, some clarification on terminology: It looks like what you had was a version of a mini-abdominoplasty, with the umbilicus (belly button) relocated to a lower position. This is actually a common procedure but isn't a "full" abdominoplasty. If you were to have the full version, there would be a... more
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7 posts
28 Dec 2008
To the various physicians who were kind enough to respond to my original posting, thank you very much! I'm afraid in my attempt to keep my question as brief as possible, I may not have been as clear as I could have been about the details of my experience. A couple of clarifications: 1. I am 43 years old and have had three full-term pregnancies. 2. I did not voice any opinion about the length of any scar or scarring around my bellybutton to my PS prior to my surgery. I knew what the results of a full TT would likely look like,including the attendant scarring, and that's what I asked for. 3. It seems that all of you agree that it appears as though only a mini-tummytuck was performed. My agreement with my PS was for a FULL tummytuck, and I paid for a full tummytuck (listed on invoice as 'abdominoplasty - $4,995.00'). Is it usual for a surgeon to unilaterally decide to change the type of surgery he performs DURING the actual procedure? He also continues to maintain that I had a 'full tummytuck', although when I asked him to show me how high up on my abdomen he had stitched (internally), he was very vague. 4. My surgeon never said my original belly button was 'too high.' Rather, he explained to me after the surgery that he hadn't needed to construct a new umbilicus for me because my original navel sat 'high' to begin with, thus allowing him to stretch it downward without it ending up TOO low. Does that make sense? When he told me that, I got the distinct impression that he wanted thanks for having had the creativity and foresight to preserve my original belly button. 5. I am not a few days post-revision. I am six months out from my original surgery and have not had any revision. My PS's assistant has performed one laser tightening treatment on my upper abdominal area, with another scheduled for late January. The 'revision' word has not been uttered by either of us, although it is rapidly becoming the proverbial elephant in the room as far as I'm concerned! So, those are a few of the details I wanted to clarify, although I apologize for the numbered list - it seems so confrontational in that format, somehow! I certainly do not intend it in that spirit. My question is, how do I proceed? I feel that he should perform a revision at no cost to me, and sooner rather than later so that a second summer isn't spent in swollen discomfort. Is this a ridiculous expectation, and if not, how do I ask for a revision without making him completely defensive? I have soft-pedaled my displeasure up until this point, not wanting to alienate him or make our relationship at all adversarial. My fear is that as soon as I ask to see my operative notes or pose any truly hard questions, he will shut down. Any and all thoughts, comments, or insights would be extremely appreciated, and again, my sincere thanks for the informative answers you provided previously!
1 post
6 Jan 2009
I have just read everything you wrote and the answers that were given.. And my oh my.. I just had a TT done on Jan 2nd.09. I am in the same exact boat as you are. It looks to me like he did a mini, and did something with the belly button to kinda make it look like he did the full TT. I have my 1st Post op on friday and you better bet your bottom dollar that I am going to demand that he fix this.. I spent almost double what you did for mine, and will not settle for a crappy job. Did i mention, that in aug 07' the same surgeon performed a breast aug w/implants and he did a great job. So I'm sure if he's 1/2 the surgeon that I know he is, he will fix my issues. ~You absolutly need to confront your surgeon and I would suggest that you have someone(a friend/loved one) along with the surgeons assistant in teh room, while discussing your situation.. Best of luck to you and I hope to hear what happens with your situation...
2 posts
8 Jan 2009
I had a full tummy tuck a month ago and although my sking was stretch marked and wrinkled before the surgery the wrinkles are much worse now. The surgeon told me he seperated the skin from the muscle with his hand, removed the navel but it didn,t need repostioning as it was almost in the same place when he pulled the skin down as far as it would go. So as the wrinkly excess skin I had before the full tummy tuck is still there how is it going to becoem tight which was the whole point of the surgery. The bottom of my stomach is tighter but the sking is slightly sagging over the scar, is this likely to go? I have quite a lot of edema which the surgeon said can take up 3 or 4 months to go. I also had a brest lift and one breast is at least 2 cup sizes bigger than the other as it has a hematoma so is hard and I can,t see my niple over the top of it as its too swolen. The surgeon said this will take 3 to 4 motnhs to be reabsorbed, is this true? It had leaked old blood twice but that hasn,t made much difference to the size or harness lumpiness. Is this like to go or remain?Thanks Diplo
2 posts
8 Jan 2009
I also have a similar problem of wrinkly sagging skin above and around the navel but as the surgery was just one month ago it looks horrific. It was a full tummy tuck I had and have a scar from hip to hip and although the navel was removed it was replaced in the same possition. The surgeon said this was because when he pulled the skin down from the bottom of my stomach the navel wasn,t far off the orriginal possition. He seperated the layers of muscle, fat and skin above the navel but did not remove the already loose skin. The navel is now grosely ugly and the wrinkled skin above the navel area which is sagging down around it, is now far worse than prior to the surgery. There is a pouch of edema above the navel area as well as edema in the lower part of my stomach so that is sagging over the lower scar as well. When I asked the surgeon if this sagging wrinkly skin was due to edeme he didn,t give me an answer but said we,d discuss in a month if it was due to edema which I found evasive so does any one know if this will go or not? And if the saging skin over the lower scar will go? At the same time as the full tummy tck I had a breast lift and have a hematoma in one breast which is at least 2 cup sizes bigger than the other breast, is very brused, swollen, lumpy and has a really ugly scar, in fact the whole breast is misformed and square on top so I can,t see my nipple. Ih has bled twice but and the scar does still leak mainly after I shower. The surgeon said most of the blood woould have come out within a week and most of the swelling would be gone by now but neither is not the case. He said the stomach and breast would take 3 to 4 months to become normal but is this the case? Will the wrinkling over the navel go, ugly navel normalize and the saging over the slower scar go? Will the breast with the hematoma be the same size and shape as the other breast? Thanks. Diplo