Will a tummy tuck and muscle repair make my waist smaller? (Photos)

Hello and thank you for posting. Yes it will. Muscle repair not only flattens your tummy but it tapers your waist as well, just like a corset. Extra lipo plus bbl ti hips will also help improve your waist to hip ratio.

Best of luck,
Dr. Miguel Mota

Hello fixmern in Marvell, AR. Thank you for your question regarding whether a tummy tuck and muscle repair will make your waist smaller.

By looking at your photos, a tummy tuck with muscle repair could indeed help you. Muscle repair typically brings in your waist by 2-4 inches, which will help refine your waist and give you more curves. Even if your abdominal muscles feel tight, muscle plication can still benefit you by providing additional contouring.

I recommend asking your plastic surgeon if you have more fat on your flanks or love handles that can be addressed by liposuction. This will give you even more contour and enhance the overall results of your tummy tuck. Combining these procedures can help achieve a more refined waistline and the curves you desire.

Good luck with your upcoming surgery. I hope this helps answer your question regarding the potential benefits of a tummy tuck and muscle repair.

Sincerely,

J. Timothy Katzen, MD, FASMBS, FICS

If your rectus (ab) muscles are spread wide, a repair will help to tighten the waist. Properly executed flank and waist liposuction and properly placed fat during BBL will also help to refine the appearance of your waist and give you curves. I like to shape the hips with strategically placed fat transfer to enhance the waist shape. Be sure to communicate your wishes with a board-certified plastic surgeon who can review a comprehensive surgical plan in detail.

At the time of tummy tuck, the skin and fat are resected and the lining of the muscle, called fascia, is repaired, not the muscle itself. The fascia is pulled together in the midline to give a more hourglass figure. If you are not planning future pregnancies, I recommend abdominoplasty with mesh reinforcement. The mesh creates a more hourglass figure by compressing the abdominal wall resulting in early satiety and helps maintain a reduced weight.

Best Wishes,

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

Dear fixmern,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you 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

Yes, repairing abdominal muscles via a tummy tuck combined with liposuction for contouring should help better define your waist. I don't think it will get you to your wish pic, but I do think better definition of your curves is possible. Be sure to see a board certified plastic surgeon near you to learn more.

Your photos are less than optimal for me to answer your questions accurately. I require a frontal, both sides and a rear pic (all CLOSE UP and nude) in order to evaluate your concerns.
The wish pic may not be realistic.
Dr. Taranow

You may get some improvement, but you will not look like your wish photo without weight loss. You do have internal fat which is not removed with a tummy tuck.

To make an assessment we need quality pictures. For people who’ve had previous work we need to see before and after pictures. If you don’t have proper before and after pictures and ask your surgeon who did your previous procedure to forward the ones they took.
For assessment we need the pictures taken the same way plastic surgeons take before and after pictures for major bodywork. The pictures should be taken by someone else or are using the timer on your camera from about 8 feet away. Do you need to be wearing revealing undergarments and the picture can be cropped showing your body from your neck to your knees.
Pictures should show front door side and backside.
There are four variables determine what time is abdomen looks like. These are skin laxity, exit subcutaneous fat, muscle separation and ask is visceral fat.
There are four variables determine what time is abdomen looks like. These are skin laxity, exit subcutaneous fat, muscle separation and excess visceral fat.
If you’ve had previous liposuction and subcutaneous fat is probably not contributing significantly and further liposuction of your abdomen is unlikely to make a big difference.
And the backside skin laxity contributes significantly and the amount of subcutaneous fat determines how much impact Liposuction can have.
Generally speaking secondary liposuction and delivers far less than the primary procedure.
The musculoskeletal waste isn’t going to change all that much for muscle tightening but can’t come in to some degree if the procedure is done aggressively. reducing visceral fat content with weight loss can help to some degree and individuals who have access to visceral fat passing slight bulging of the abdomen.
Your pictures are not sufficient to give you a quality assessment especially considering that you’ve had previous surgery.
Try reposting including proper before and after pictures from your last procedure and current pictures as described above.
To get an accurate assessment and proper leave that to plastic surgeons to find the best provider I suggest patients schedule multiple in person consultations.During each consultation ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures for whatever procedure you are considering.When reviewing before and after pictures only asked to be shown pictures of previous patient with similar body characteristics to your own.
Ask providers to show you examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes and outcomes that did not turn out as well as stay at home.
Being shown a handful of preselected pictures representing the best results of a providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like.
A thorough consultation should include an assessment and demonstration of what results are likely to look like by showing sufficient number some before and after pictures of previous patient to have the same body characteristics.
I described above the four tissue variables that determine what the abdomen looks like. Plastic surgeons should decipher through each one of those and based on those should have a pretty good understanding of what your results will look like. Experience position will have enough before and after pictures to be able to demonstrate clearly what your results will look like so they should be very few surprises.
For reference and experience surgeon should have no difficulty showing you at least 50 set a before and after pictures of appropriate previous cases that are representative. Highly experienced surgeons will have hundreds or even thousands of before and after pictures of commonly performed procedures like a tummy tuck or BBL.
Familiarize yourself with what quality before and after pictures look like focusing specifically on people who look similar to your body in the before pictures.
Have a set of proper pictures of your own body printed and bring those with you during the consultation and use them as a reference when reviewing before and after pictures.
Before having consultations create a rating system for quality results and make notes during each consultation so you can compare results between different providers.
Take notes during the consultation regarding both the quantity and quality of before and after pictures shown during the consult.
You should also take notes about other aspects of the consultation and in general how thorough providers are about discussing previous medical history, preparation for surgery, recovery, risks and benefits, alternative procedures etc. etc.
There’s no correct number of consultations to have before choosing the right provider but the more consultations you have the better your chances of finding the best provider.
I suggest patient start with at least five consultations and consider having many more unless they feel very confident they found the best most experienced and talented provider for your needs.
Results vary substantially on who does the procedure.
For a tummy tuck look specifically at who gets the most natural and best looking belly buttons, a very lost that scar that follows anatomic contours naturally and evenly on both sides with a torso deluxe balance appropriate and natural from all angles including from behind.
When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.
Avoid virtual consultations whenever possible. I highly recommend people avoid traveling long distances for any elective surgical procedure.
To maximize having quality outcomes and minimizing the chance of ending up with disappointing results or worse patients need to take responsibility for provider selection by properly vetting plastic surgeons during the consultation process.
Being board-certified and plastic surgery with an overall good reputation is insufficient to confirm someone has mastered any one surgical procedure.
To get the highest chance of quality outcomes patients need to put in a serious amount of effort in provider selection.
These are permanent and irreversible operations. If done poorly it’s very difficult to improve on the outcome.
The first step is to get an accurate assessment so you have a good idea what can and cannot be achieved with the procedures you’re interested in. The second step is to decipher which is the most talented and experience procedure through in person consultations. At that point you are ready to finally schedule surgery.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD

Hi and welcome to our forum!
From your photos, I note that you are wearing garments which will compress and distort underlying tissues, camouflaging the areas of your concern. You appear to demonstrate a full abdomen, flanks, and hips, associated with moderate size buttocks.
A full abdomen may be caused by stretching and splaying out of the anterior rectus abdominis musculature during pregnancy, fat accumulation between skin and muscle of the abdomen, or the accumulation of excess visceral fat (fat within the abdominal cavity). A physical examination is required to differentiate.
If due to rectus muscle stretch (diastasis recti), abdominoplasty with muscle plication will tighten the abdomen and narrow the waist. Liposuction of the flanks and hips will also further narrow the waist.
The wish pic you present appears to be a photoshopped result!
Visit a board certified plastic surgeon for evaluation and discussion.
Best wishes...