Liposuction and Abdominal Muscle Tightening??

Stitching muscles together does not mean you can't tone them and it is not a substitute for good exercise. To give a crude example, you need braces to put your teeth closer together but you may still need to brush or whiten your teeth and maintain good oral hygiene. Re-approximating the muscles and exercise are not mutually exclusive they are complimentary.

Exercise can reduce fat in some individuals but some sites are depots of fat accumulation that are very difficult to reduce, especially the lower belly and outer thighs in women.  If the abdomen has been stretched with pregnancy and you are not planning to have more children, then a tummy tuck may be necessary to tighten the fascial covering around the muscle that has become loosened. All the sit-ups in the world will not tighten this fascia and the loose fascia allows the muscle to bow forward.  Abdominoplasty tightens the rectus abdominus muscle covering to help keep the muscle from bulging forward which diet, exercise and liposuction would never improve.

Tummy tucks do three things, depending on individual needs: Remove localized fat that won't go away with diet and exercise, tighten skin that has been stretched out from pregancies, and re-align the rectus muscles to their original position when they have been pushed apart by pregnancy. Since the muscle separation is based on pushing out in a sideways direction but they contract in a vertical direction with exercise, you can't accomplish the correction with exercise, and they will function better not worse after the repair. With lipo alone, the skin will not tighten very much (even with laser lipo) so the result will be lumpy and uneven.

Liposuction removes fat.  It can't tighten the fascia.

Tummy tucks tighten the muscles (actually tighten the fascia which holds the muscles), remove fat and remove extra skin.  There are many different types of tummy tucks, depending on what the patient needs.

Patients who have their fascia tightened are usually quite happy that when they do a situp, they no longer have the bulge between the muscles. 

While diet and exercise can reduce fat, there is no way to exercise away a weak fascia.  There is also no way to exercise away loose skin.  For patients with loose skin and loose fascia, a tummy tuck gives great relief.

The accumulation of fat, production of stretch marks and loosening of abdominal muscular tone, including umbilical hernias, are some of the changes, which women dislike after pregnancy.  The best body contouring procedure is dependent on what's "objectionable" as well as the patient's health status and aesthetic sense, as well as the surgeon's recommendations.  For example, some women will reject a tummy tuck because of their aversion of a long scar, preferring a more modest improvement by liposuction. Many women who consult me are "super Moms", who loose their "baby fat" rapidly after they deliver.  This subset get frustrated because despite exercising diligently, they are unable to restore the integrity of their abdominal wall.  This is where some variant of a limited incision tummy tuck may be beneficial, assuming that they do not have excessive skin.  In order to choose the optimal combination of techniques for your individual needs, consult with some board certified PS.  They will undoubtedly give you the rationale for a circumferential approach to the trunk (abdomen and hips), as well as caution you on whether you may be at risk for liposuction contour irregularities.  Good luck.