What is a reverse abdominoplasty?

Reverse abdominoplasty refers to an upper abdominoplasty done to tighten upper abdominal skin that cannot be tightened by a lower abdominoplasty or mini tummy tuck. The scars are usually placed beneath the breasts to conceal the scar. This procedure is done on patients who have only lax upper abdominal skin or... more

A reverse tummy tuck is a method of liftin the skin upwards instead of pulling it downwards.  The skin incision is placed immediately below and under both breasts. It generally removes loose skin in the midriff area.

A reverse abdominoplasty is not a great procedure in my opinion. The incision is under the breasts and the tension on the area tends to pull the breast down. I have been practicing plastic surgery for 25 years and have done only one of these. That one time I regretted it. There are many other ways to... more

Abdominal scars influence the type of abdominoplasty to perform.  In rare cases, an abdominoplasty is performed using an incision underneath the breast and pulling up of the abdominal flap instead of the usual lower incision with pulling down of the abdominal flap and skin. The incision is usually placed... more

'Reverse Upper' abdominoplasty Not infrequently I see patients in whom there is as much skin laxity in the upper abdomen as there is in the lower abdomen. In fact, some patients after pregnancy will have fairly 'toned' lower abdominal skin, but very lax and redundant upper abdominal skin. In these situations,... more

Plastic surgeons do their best to hide scars in surgery. In select patients with excess skin, fat, and tissue in their upper abdomen, the best place to hide a scar may actually be at the top of the abdomen instead of in the bikini area (as usually done in a regular tummy tuck). An upside down tummy tuck, or a... more

This is an operation to tighten the abdomen but takes the extra skin out under the breasts rather than in the bikini line area as in a traditional tummy tuck. This results in a "Golden Gate Bridge" scar across the upper abdomen and is quite unsightly. Consequently and appropriately, this operation is rarely... more

A reverse abdominoplasty is performed to treat laxity of tissues in the upper abdomen. The incisions are usually placed in the breast folds so that they are pretty well hidden. This is sometimes performed on patients that have had a previous abdominoplasty but still have upper abdominal laxity.

To answer this question, it helps to first know what a “Traditional” abdominoplasty entails. All traditional operations result in a scar that is somewhere at the level of the bikini line: Mini Abdominoplasty – a c-section length scar that allows for tightening of the abdominal muscles, but... more