Mini TT/lipo/light ab-etching? Can I leave off silicone blocks post-op for more natural contours?

Dear nonotnow,
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

Treatment options should be based on the underlying ideology or diagnosis.
Personally I’m not a fan of etching because far too often it ends up not looking good and ones done it is impossible to reverse. it’s especially bad for people with skin laxity. When the skin shifts your etched lines will be off center and will look deformed rather than muscle definition. The only people who are a good candidate for high definition or etching are lean young men with tight skin. Even then you have to take into consideration that someday you may not be a lean young man and when you gained 40 pounds in middle age what is that going to look like. If you fluctuate in weight and eventually get skin laxity that etching isn’t going to look so hot and will be like a badly placed tattoo in a visible area.
Skin surgery may or may not be appropriate. Do you understand what this can or cannot do I recommend having multiple in person consultations with local board-certified plastic surgeons.
On one of your pictures it shows slight bulging of your abdominal wall which makes me wonder if possibly you may still have a slight bit of excess visceral fat.
Recognized that a mini tummy tuck will tighten the skin below your belly button but has no impact on skin laxity above the belly button.
This gives two different appearances which is not ideal and sometimes doesn’t create a balanced appearance.
Sometimes a full tummy tuck without muscle tightening is the way to go.
Men typically do not need muscle tightening because men don’t get muscle separation. It is a pregnancy related condition.
Honestly I think you look really good and should consider not having surgery as a very real option and should be your default or baseline unless you’re absolutely certain that surgery is the right decision for you.
I recommend having multiple in person consultations. During each consultation asked each provider to show their entire collection of before and after pictures of similar male patients with a history of weight loss who had skin tummy tuck surgery weather mini or a full.
Look carefully at incision lines and overall quality outcomes. Look especially for who has the most experience.
For a full tummy tuck look very carefully and who gets the most natural looking belly buttons. That is one of the harder parts of the procedure.
Different surgeons may have different opinions but I personally do not believe man should ever get muscle tightening.
There are obviously exceptions when things are abnormal but for a typical male patient with weight loss related skin laxity a skin only time he took is typically all that’s needed.
Is it really that bad to have a little loose skin when your fit lean and look the way you do?
Perhaps it is and if it bothers you enough to have surgery then get some consultations.
Picking the right plastic surgeon is in the end the most important variable.
Consult with lots of them and schedule exclusively in person consultations.
Push providers to show their entire collection and before and after pictures. Seeing one or two or a handful of preselected pictures which represents the providers best results is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what the average results look like.
My best recommendation is to stay far away from etching or high definition work of any kind.
You are simply not a candidate and I’ve seen too many people disfigured from this procedure.
High definition work is a sham that’s been propagated by a single provider that doesn’t always tell things the way they are. He is first and foremost as self promoter.
Lots of plastic surgeons are now trying to imitate his results and in doing so are leaving people disfigured.
It is not to say there are not impressive high definition results possible but the number of cases where it doesn’t turn out well it’s far too high and unfortunately the procedure is 100% irreversible.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD