42, 5’1, 116lbs, can my muscles be repaired with a mini or smaller incision? (Photos)

Your concern should not be about the length of your incision, but instead the position on your body. There will be a tendency for surgeons to give you one that will be too high on your abdomen and difficult to cover in a bikini. Why? Because most surgeons want to 'get the hole out', the skin defect where it was once attached to your belly button. There is a persistent and erroneous belief that the hole has to come out with the excess skin, leading to millions of women with an unnecessarily high transverse incisions, instead of a very inconspicuous, short, midline incision and a very low long incision. Why are you at risk? Because although you have muscle and skin laxity, you have little skin excess, especially above your belly button, and that lack of excess skin will mean that the hole won't travel far once the skin has been transposed downward.

Thanks for your question and the photos you provided. You are a perfect full tummy tuck candidate to remove the greatest amount of stretch marks in your lower abdomen, address your severe muscle separation. Make sure you consult with a board certified plastic surgeon

Thank you for your question and pictures! For muscle repair, you would ned to have a full abdominoplasty. This consists of having a scar that goes hip to hip. This is necessary to fully repair your diastasis recti. I recommend that you meet with a board certified plastic surgeon in order to have an in person exam. Best of luck!