What does "undermining" mean when referring to a tummy tuck?

Undermining means to erode the base or foundation. It also means to damage or weaken. This is true in surgery as well as in other things. When plastic surgeons undermine an area , we weaken or divide the connection between the skin and the body wall. It allows us to lift the skin and stretch it down. But the other part of the definition is also true. The more you divide and lift the skin, the more you divide the nerve and blood supply. If the nerve supply is out, you are numb. If the blood supply is out, the skin dies. So, where's the balance?Any thoughtful plastic surgeon will divide only that which has to be divided to get a good result. That's also why operating on smokers or those with other causes of poor circulation can be a really bad idea. That, by the way, was one of the big reasons that liposuction was often limited with abdominoplasty. The technique of lipo-abdominoplasty has shown us that it can all be done safely but with intentionally limited undermining.

Thank you for your question. Undermining refers to lifting the skin and fat layer off of the muscle layer so that the skin can be pulled down and tightened. Once the skin is lifted up and advanced down the excess lower skin can be removed. Undermining also allows the surgeon to see the muscle layer from the ribs down to the pubic bone so that the muscle layer can be tightened. Good luck.

"Undermining" is a surgical term used to describe dissection below the skin that takes place beyond the location of the incision.  The technique is used to facilitate advancement of the tissue from where the undermining took place.  In reference to a tummy tuck, the dissection takes place from the lower abdominal incision up towards the rib cage to lift the skin and fat off the abdominal muscles.  This allows the abdominal skin to be pulled down tight to optimize your results.  Without the undermining, it would be very difficult to pull the abdominal skin down due to the attachments to your muscles.

When we do a tummy tuck, we make an incision through the skin and cut straight down through the skin and fat to the muscle layer.  We then lift the skin and fat off the muscle heading upwards towards the chest.  This is what is known as undermining the skin.  When we have freed up the skin and fat from the muscle, we can then pull the extra skin/fat down like a window shade and trim off the excess skin/fat before we put it back down and sew it into place.

It describes lifting the skin up from near the pubis upto the rib cage areas.  That then allows extra skin to be pulled down and removed.