Tummy tuck done 7 months ago, unhappy with results. What can I do to achieve a more snatched and contoured look? (photos)

Thank you for your question.
Based on the photos provided, I believe that liposuction to your flanks would give you the snatched, hour-glass figure you are describing. I recommend speaking with a board certified plastic surgeon to discuss your options.

Dear Santana8801,
I understand your concern. However, without a proper assessment, it would be difficult to determine what went wrong. It is best that you visit your plastic surgeon for further assessment or ask for a second opinion. Only after a thorough examination, you can get proper recommendations and advice.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

From your before photo the correct suggestion for you was a tummy tuck with liposuction for enhanced contouring. You can return now for liposuction to remove excess fat. Be sure to discuss with your surgeon about what you can expect in terms of results.

Hello dear,
You can benefit a lot from a 360 liposuction to achieve that snatched look around your belly. Extra fat definitely must be removed when you are aiming for a thin / hourglass appearance. Seems like your scars healed nicely so that's a big plus on your side. Depending on your skin elasticity, even though when you have the 360 liposuction, you might not need a revision tummy tuck. Also, you don't have lots of extra fat in your abdominal area so I assume your skin wouldn't get so saggy and it would retract in time

Liposuction should not be done in the area of the tuck at the same time of the tuck to avoid complications like skin dying. However, it can be done now to remove residual fat. Please discuss this with your surgeon.

Yes you need lipo 360 to improve the hour glass results you desire. Best to virtual consult with....Fee from $5,000.. Or seek in person opinions.

Liposuction can only give the potential change based on how much fat you have. Patients are sometimes under the illusion that body contouring it’s a procedure or we can continue to just keep removing fat and bring the waist in as thin as we want. If your fat layer is 3/4 of an inch and you remove 75% you’ll have about a half inch of change. The thinnest part of your waist probably doesn’t even have 3/4 of an inch of fat it’s probably more like 1/2 inch. so Liposuction would give you a difference of about 3/8 of an inch. The only way you can really bring in the waste is with stomach tightening that is so aggressive that the rectus muscles are literally buried and the muscle wall is created by sewing oblique muscle onto oblique muscle.
With that much tension on the abdominal wall patients are bound to have a miserable recovery and can end up with other issues like bulging of the upper abdomen.
A tummy tuck was the correct procedure for you. There are simply inherent limitations based on each individual persons candidacy. It’s unfortunate that none of the doctors took the time to review sufficient numbers of before and after pictures of patients with very similar body characteristics to point out exactly what can and what cannot be accomplished with this procedure.
You can certainly have liposuction and for more hyper feminine curves consider grafting fat to your buttocks and hips. if you were born with a body that’s not curvaceous then that’s based primarily on your skeletal structure. Fat manipulation isn’t going to change your skeletal shape so there are inherent limitations to what we can do. It’s very important to understand the primary problem and what is being treated with every procedure.
Plastic surgeons go to medical school not magic school.
I applaud you for having made the effort to at least have four consultations before your tummy tuck.
I always recommend patients of multiple in person consultations before considering any cosmetic surgical procedure.
Properly vetting plastic surgeons to find the most talented and experience provider is a scale people are not born with.
The best way in my opinion is to push providers to open up their portfolios and show patients their entire collection of before and after pictures being very selective and choosing pictures of patients who are very similar body characteristics to your own when reviewing before and after results. Bring pictures of your own body for comparison while reviewing before and after pictures.
There are certain things to look for for each procedure which indicates quality work. For example for a full tummy tuck I recommend patients focus on what surgeons get the most natural looking belly button with a very low set scar that follows anatomic contours naturally. I also encourage them to look at the Torso from all angles to make sure the torso looks good from all sides. A talented plastic surgeon will adjust the procedure when necessary to make the body look good from all angles.
There are certain things to look for for each procedure which indicates quality work. For example for a full tummy tuck I recommend patients focus on what surgeons get the most natural looking belly button with a very low set scar that follows anatomic contours naturally. I also encourage them to look at the Torso from all angles to make sure the torso looks good from all sides. A talented plastic surgeon will adjust the procedure when necessary to make the body look good from all angles. plastic surgeons often do some liposuction in conjunction with a tummy tuck. From what I’ve seen plastic surgeons often do not get the quality liposuction results when doing it as a combined procedure that are possible from liposuction when done as a separate procedure. there are a few reasons for this. Aggressive liposuction in conjunction with a tummy tuck can increase complication rates and these are complications that can be fairly disastrous so some surgeons simply for safety measures back off and how much Liposuction is done.
That is simply putting patient safety before Aesthetic outcomes which is highly appropriate.
The second reason I asked to do with the positioning of the patient. During a full tummy tuck surgeons are apprehensive to move the patient into a different position and sculpting the waist and love handles is a really hard to do with patients laying on their back.
Turning someone during general anesthesia is actually pretty complex. It typically takes six people and can take 30 to 40 minutes just to turn a patient. The anesthesiologist and nursing staff are not found of turning patients during surgery though they understand that sometimes it’s simply inherently necessary in order to get the surgery done correctly.
If you want to have a second procedure then keep your expectations real and continue having consultations now focusing on providers who have mastered liposuction and fat transfer.
Don’t expect your waist to come in all that much but building out your buttocks and hips can achieve a hyper feminine look and the combination is most likely the correct way to go.
Delivering consistent quality liposuction and fat transfer results is not as easy as people believe. It’s very important to vet providers and make sure they have sufficient skill and experience. for fat transfer make absolutely sure after pictures were taken at least three months from the date of the procedure. Early fat transfer results can look highly impressive but do not at all represent final results.
Ask providers to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures if they’re willing to. If not then at least push them to show you as many pictures as possible. Ask specifically to see examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes and less than outcomes. Ask about revision rates and asked to see pictures of patients who had revisions.
Bring pictures of yourself and ask the provider to select before and after pictures of patients whose body shape and type are similar to your own as possible.
An experience provider should have no difficulty showing you at least 50 sets of before and after pictures. highly experienced sergeants will have hundreds or even thousands of before and after pictures for commonly done procedures.
Finally it’s really important to recognize what the problem is and what is being treated.
Happiness is inversely proportional to expectations.
Good luck,
Mats Hagstrom MD