Do I have enough skin for a full tummy tuck? (Photos)

Thank you for your question about having enough skin for a tummy tuck. Thank you for your pictures and thank you for your history. Yes, you do have enough skin for a full tummy tuck. In examining your pictures, you have excess skin, excess fat, and a mildly weak anterior abdominal wall. Therefore, I would strongly suggest the tummy tuck. The tummy tuck is a far superior surgery compared to the umbilical float or the mini tummy tuck. During your horizontal tummy tuck, an incision would be made underneath your c-section scar, and tissue dissection would be made up to the breasts. The rectus abdominal muscle will be sutured flat to achieve a nice flat profile view. Then the excess skin and fat from the top of your c-section scar would be removed above your belly button. If your plastic surgeon cannot remove the skin around your belly button, the skin may need to be vertically sutured. You may need a vertical scar to camouflage the skin around your belly button. I think this is the best plan. Another alternative is to make the incision above the belly button and dissect the scar down to the C-section. This would guarantee that there would be no vertical scar. However, the scar may be higher than your panty line. In addition, the skin between your tummy tuck scar and c-section scar may be in jeopardy due to your blood supply. Therefore, I would opt for the full tummy tuck with muscle plication, excess skin and fat removal, and the probable vertical scar from the prior position of your belly button. Thank you for your question regarding whether you qualify for a full tummy tuck.
Sincerely,
Dr. Katzen

Thank you for your inquiry and photos. based on your photos you are candidate for a tummy tuck, this will help remove stretch marks. I suggest seeking a board certified plastic surgeon to discuss details with. Best of luck!

YES, you have sufficient skin for a modified tummy tuck that will smooth and further tighten your (fit) abdominal wall.  An example at link below.  Your situation is common.  Short low scar can be concealed (for the most part) behind bikini bottom.

Thank you for using RealSelf.com and providing photos.A full tummy tuck including muscle tightening will give you the best result.  Your upper belly does have some loose skin just not as much as the lower tummy.  The only issue will involve the scars.  You will have a long scar in the bikini line (not a worry) and a belly button scar (also, not a worry).  But, you will also have an up and down scar in the midline of your tummy above the tummy tuck scar in the bikini line.  The reason is you just do not have enough loose skin to remove the belly button hole that is a result from detaching the belly button from the skin.It will be a trade-off.  My opinion, a good one.  Scars fade over several years.  Your skin looseness and irregularities will not go away unless a tummy tuck is performed.If you do not want that extra scar, a mini-tummy tuck could be done.  This would tighten only the lower belly but avoid the up and down scar and the belly button scar.Hope this helps.Dr Spies

Thanks for presenting a challenging issue to the forum. I have a significant amount of experience with abdominal contouring; and have found that trying to fully correct deep adhesions from previous liposuctioning can be a difficult issue. Often times there is not enough subcutaneous tissue to help camouflage the dimples caused by irregular removal of the fat and adhesion scarring bands. Releasing a significant portion of the deep scar bands will help around 40%-70%, once again, depending on how much of a fatty layer exists. If there is not enough, then re-introducing fat after releasing the bands, removing excess skin and stretching the flap, will help the most. You appear to have some excess skin and some relaxed abdominal wall fascia, all of which will be helped using the full tummy tuck; however, a full exam will be necessary before making any definitive plan. Best of luck!

Hello,Of course you don't have enough skin to transpose the little hole (that is created when separating the belly skin from the belly button) down far enough to be excised. But that should not prevent you from have a full tummy tuck. The surgeon should strive to place the long incision at its optimum place (at the thigh-abdominal border) and close the belly button hole vertically at the end of the operation.  This way you can get as much skin as possible to be transpose downward and eliminate as much skin as possible. Best of luck!

Thanks for your questions. At least initially without doing a full exam, it doesn't look like all the skin from the pubic area to the belly button (what's traditionally removed from a typical tummy tuck) could be removed. However, the lower abdominal wall seems lax (meaning it protrudes some) could be tightened, the skin pulled down and removed and the rest of the skin would be significantly smoother. Even some fat injection to the scars would help the contour. Sometimes even if all the skin can't be removed, enough is removed to then have a short vertical scar that also would significantly improve the contour. I could still do a full tummy tuck even if all the scars and stretch marks weren't removed and have your abdomen look significantly better!

Dear haisola,it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Based on the photos, I would suggest either a mini tummy tuck or an umbilical float procedure. The float procedure will allow for some tightening of the skin above the belly button. Hopefully, tightening the skin will give you a smoother contour. Good luck!

Only after examination in the office would we be able to tell if you have enough skin laxity to accomplish all of these typical goals:1. Removal of all skin between the belly button and the bikini line area2. Closure of the incision without undue tension or vascular compromise to the center of the closure area3. A low scar that can be concealed in swimwear/undergarmentsSometimes, even if you can not achieve goal #1 fully, you can have 70-80% of that skin removed and have a small vertical incision in the lower abdomen where the belly button hole was cut out. This is often preferable to trying too hard to get all the skin out and ending up with tension on the repair or a high scar. Go on some consults with board-certified plastic surgeons where you can be examined in person to assess your skin laxity.