BBL and Mini Tummy Tuck with tightening of lower abdominal muscles. Will 3 weeks of downtime be enough?

Thanks for your
question.  3 weeks may be enough time for
recovery.  I will tell my patients that
they might be able to return to work within 2 weeks, but always plan for 4
weeks.  You just never know if you will
need the extra time off before you feel up to getting back.  So, it really depends on how your recovery
goes.  I hope this helps. 

Hello and Great Question.  I appreciate the time you are spending researching this procedure.  My name is Dr. Matthew J. Nykiel.  I am a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, a Fellowship Trained Cosmetic Surgeon, and a Butt Augmentation Specialist.

I find that if you are only having a "mini" then the lipo alone should tighten the skin enough.  If you need full muscle tightening a "mini" usually doesn't cut it.  Best of Luck!  Please reach out if you have any further questions or concerns.

Matthew J. Nykiel, MD#TopREALSELFDoctor#CoreREALSELFDoctorButt Augmentation SpecialistLiposuction SpecialistBoard Certified Plastic Surgeon

2 weeks is usually enough downtime even with a full tummy tuck.   I perform the tummy tuck and BBL in combination several times a week, and I have found that minitummy tuck is inadequate in the vast majority of cases, particularly when muscle plication is involved.Kenneth Hughes, MDLos Angeles, CA

Whenever there is a muscle plication involved in a procedure, patients should avoid strenuous activity or heavy lifting for about four to six weeks. In your case you should be able to work in three weeks provided you are not lifting/transferring the patients. Discuss this with you plastic surgeon but you should be fine if you are careful.Best wishes,Dr.Bruno

Thank your for your question. The best person to advice you will be your specific surgeon as he or she will have better knowledge of your situation and can determine whether you can heal during this time and be able to return to work. I would say 3 weeks should be enough time to recover and get back to work. Allways best to follow your surgeon´s recovery protocol. Good luck!

Hi... thank you for the question, Generally after 15 days you can go back to work, and your type of job can be done after 3 weeks, contact your PS to make sure is the same opinion. 

Greetings.  In general, 3 weeks of not working should be enough time for recovery.  Some people will also return with a lifting restriction or a light duty restriction for a period of time.  Every surgeon has a different approach for this.  Good luck!

3 weeks should be plenty of time for you to recover before going back to work. My patients usually go back sooner on light duty. I ask for 4 weeks post-op without strenuous activity or heavy lifting.

Recovery is an ongoing process.

Three weeks should be plenty of time to recover from the procedures you're describing.

Most people can go back to low impact daily activities after a week or sometimes less. Each plastic surgeon will have a different protocol of what's acceptable after a BBL.

In regards to your mini abdominal plasty The recovery in regards to pain it should be tolerable by 5 to 7 days and much better once your drains come out.

As a general statement mini tummy tucks with muscle tighteng are in my opinion not great procedures.

Both the skin tightening and muscle tightening or below the belly button only.

This has a tendency to leave the upper abdomen looking unnatural in relationship to the lower abdomen.

Even if the lower abdomen is what seems to be the problem the upper abdomen will look like it's the problem if only the lower abdomen is addressed.

If the muscle tightening is done aggressively on the lower abdomen the upper abdomen will bulge out.

Most patients do much better having a full abdominal plasty.

In my opinion the number of patients who are good candidates for many time he talks are actually quite few and far in between.

If you have muscle separation from previous pregnancies you most likely need complete muscle tightening from top to bottom.

Of course these are general statements and cannot be applied to any single one person without an examination or more information.

It seems to me that if you're willing to undergo a mini abdominal plasty with muscle tightening it makes more sense to do a full abdominoplasty and get everything taken care of correctly.

If you're uncertain of what the best proceed then I highly recommend getting a few separate independent opinions by having consultations with more than one plastic surgeon.

A full abdominal plasty will have recovery that is different in that the drains will most likely stay in for a few more days.

The pain may be slightly more for the first 2 to 5 days.A full abdominal plasty will leave a slightly different looking belly button but a smooth continuous tight abdomen from your rib cage down to your pubic an inguinal area.

In regards to recovery I suggest you review these questions it with your plastic surgeon.

Each plastic surgeon has a different protocol for what's acceptable in regards to physical activity after a BBL.

In our practice we ask patients to minimize sitting and physical activity for the first 2 to 3 weeks after BBL.

We offer a special foam pillows to sit on putting the pressure on the back of the thigh's rather thanThe buttocks after a BBL.

This allows patients to go back to work much sooner if their job requires sitting.

Best of luck with your upcoming procedure.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom M.D.

I want to warn you against performing a mini tummy tuck as tightening the lower muscles only; this will result in pushing out the upper muscles above your belly button and resulting in what we call a muffin top deformity. Please see link for more information. 3 weeks should be adequate recovery for properly performed mini tummy tuck surgery.