Dear remyjefferies,Some plastic surgeons may want to split this into two operations depending on the time needed. Its best to see a board-certified plastic surgeon to determine your options and whether it would take too long, greater than 4 hours, to do both.Daniel Barrett, MD, MHA, MS Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery Member, Am. Society of Plastic Surgery
The answer is: it depends.These procedures can sometimes be safely combined in under about 6 hours of surgery but it depends on the patient's body frame, weight, BMI, medical issues, etc. and the degree of excess tissue on the abdomen, and whether a breast lift or implants alone are needed. The more added procedures and factors to deal with, the longer the surgery, and we usually recommend constraining surgery to around 6 hours or less to minimize certain risks of anesthesia, blood clots, etc. The other issue is it is hard to keep pressure off the buttocks and the front of the body at the same time - most surgeons like you to offload pressure from the buttocks after BBL surgery, but you can't fully do that if you are also keeping off your front to heal a tummy tuck and breast surgery. Some surgeons are not concerned about this offloading issue. If a large amount of lipo is being done, I'd suggest staging these procedures with the BBL done first, followed by a second surgery 4-6 months later for removal of the skin, tightening of the abdominal muscles, touchup of any lipo, and breast surgery. Talk to some surgeons in consultation to review your options. Make sure they are board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
