If I Have Already Had a Mini-tummy Tuck, Can I Still Have a Full Tummy Tuck Several Years Later and Get a Good Result?

Yes, you can get a Full Tummy Tuck and also expect a great result, if you've already had a Mini Tummy Tuck. 

 

With a Full Tummy Tuck, you should expect a longer incision, but there will be a greater ability to tighten more loose skin.  You should still have the ability to tighten your tummy muscles and tighten the sides of your tummy, if you need it. 


Best Wishes,

Roy

Yes you can. Mini tummy tucks work well, when all the excess skin is below the belly button. There are few patients who satisfy this conditions, therefore I see more unhappy patients coming to me to get a full tummy tuck after they had a mini elsewhere. The surgeon who will do your next operation must find out if during the first surgery, the surgeon had floated your belly button. This is done sometimes to lower the belly bottom and get red of some skin redundancy during a mini operation. If that was done, one can not cut around the belly bottom. There are other ways to handle that situation, but we are really getting too technical for this post.

It is certainly possible to have a full tummy tuck after a mini tummy tuck.  The issues are:


The degree of skin excess above the umbilicus.  If this is minimal, you may need a vertical scar where the old umbilical opening was

The umbilicus.  If this was divided and "floated" downward there will be risk of umbilical necrosis with a full tummy tuck


 

It's hard to give you a good answer without seeing you, but I don't see why you couldn't get a full tummy tuck after a mini-tummy tuck.  As long as you have looseness of your abdominal wall and excess skin, you should be a good candidate for a full tummy tuck.

Yes, this can be performed - however, it is more challenging for the surgeon to tailor the skin, and to position the umbilicus without the need for a small vertical scar where the old umbilical site ends up.  There's typically not very much skin laxity centrally, but lots laterally.

It's better, in general, to do the full TT if that's what people need.