How much skin to remove? (Photo)

Hello 16huck. Thank you for your question regarding how much skin can be removed during a tummy tuck.

From the photos provided, I do not see any significant stretch marks. The amount of skin removed during a tummy tuck is determined by how much excess skin remains after the dissection and the muscle repair. Your plastic surgeon will measure out the excess skin to ensure a natural and balanced result.

Your skin naturally loosens over time, and it is not recommended to do anything to intentionally stretch your skin before surgery. If you are concerned about the skin being too tight, it is essential to discuss this with your plastic surgeon. Communicate your desire for a natural look without overly tight skin. Your surgeon can tailor the procedure to your preferences, ensuring that enough skin is removed to achieve a smooth contour while avoiding an overly tight appearance.

Good luck with your surgery, and I hope you achieve the results you are looking for.

Sincerely,

J. Timothy Katzen, MD, FASMBS, FICS

Dear jrice1015,
based on your photos, you look like a good candidate for a TT. Full tummy tuck should tighten your abdominal muscles and remove the excess skin. Flanks liposuction would give you a better shape. I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon because only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MDCertified, American Board of Plastic SurgeryMember, American Society of Plastic SurgeryMember, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

This is a good question that many people have. The amount of skin removed depends on the amount of excess skin and the skin characteristics -ie skin quality and elasticity- which varies between individuals. The amount of skin removed in you depends on how stretchy your skin is, which is determined on physical exam. During surgery, we try to take out as much skin that is safely possible, without giving an overly stretched or unnatural appearance. Too much tension will also affect wound healing. There is not much that can be done for the extra skin above or bellow the belly button - surgery is the most effective way to address that. Although stretch marks will remain in the areas of where the skin is not removed, based on the pictures your stretch marks are not obvious. Hope this helps!

Your stretch marks aren’t terrible. A tummy tuck will remove the ones below the umbilicus but some of the ones above would remain. And as you indicate that skin will be pulled flat

Each patient case is handled individually. Generally speaking a tummy tuck removes skin from just above the belly button down to the hip bone level. The skin removed is similar to a football shape. I encourage you to visit with a board certified plastic surgeon near you to discuss your concerns and goals for surgery. Review before/after photos of surgeons you are considering to find those who have results similar to what you want.

Hello. Thanks for your question and photos. By your pics, you are a candidate for Full Tummy Tuck. With the full procedure, you'll get rid of damaged skin under your belly. Consult a board-certified plastic surgeon in your area. Good Luck!

Go to a board certified plastic surgeon who does abdominal surgery and ask to see before and after photos so you can see his/her work.

The amount of skin that can be removed. Depends on how much skin laxity you have, the comfort of the surgeon, and how aggressive the procedure is done. While doing a full tummy tuck, the skin and fat layer is separated from the muscle fascia. This separation of tissue layers is often called undermining. Some providers will limit undermining in the upper abdomen until they reach the rib cage. Others will go up onto the rib cage all the way up to the breast. The more undermining that’s done the more skin can generally be removed. Another important variable is where the scar is that. The lower the scar is that the lower the upper skin excision will be and more of the stretch marks will be left in place. If you don’t mind a high scar then all the stretch marks can easily be removed, but in my opinion, having a high scar is very undesirable.
The remaining stretch marks will be just above your pubic area and typically look far better than they do around the mid-abdomen. I suggest not worrying about if you have remaining stretch marks, but rather fuck your thing I’m finding the plastic surgeon who gets the most consistent quality outcomes to your liking. I generally recommend judging Tummy tuck results based on who gets the most natural looking belly buttons on a consistent basis with a very low set scar that follows, anatomic contours naturally and evenly on all sides, leaving the torso, looking attractive, balanced, and appropriate from all angles, including from behind.
To help find the best provider, I suggest having multiple in person consultations. During each consultation, ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before, and after pictures of previous patients who had similar body characteristics to your owner. An experienced plastic surgeon should have no difficulty showing you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients. Being shown a handful of pre-selected images, representing the best results of the providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider or how many of these procedures any one surgeon has actually performed. There is a substantial difference in skill, experience, and approach to how this operation should be done and choosing the right provider is the most important variable. There’s no correct number of consultations to have to find the right provider. Considering that the procedure is permanent, irreversible, and difficult to improve upon if not done right the first time, I suggest patients consider having at least five consultations before choosing a provider. Take careful notes for each consultation, especially regarding the quantity and quality of before and after pictures. Do not assume that somebody who is a board-certified plastic surgeon with years of experience in an overall good reputation has mastered any one single procedure. It is your responsibility as a patient to properly vet the provider like you’re interviewing somebody you want to hire. Do not be intimidated by the consultation process. The more consultations you have the better you’ll be at doing consultations from a patient’s perspective. Recognize the plastic surgeons have years of experience and have done thousands of consultations so they have far more experience and have the upper hand when it comes to seeming confident experienced authoritative and being the right provider. Bedside manner is important, but choosing the right provider who knows how to do the procedure well is in the end, the single most important variable. Famous surgeons, nice surgeons, published surgeons and surgeons with excessive advertising and social media presence generally have very little to do with actual surgical skill.
You seem like a very good candidate for a full tummy tuck. In the end, if you find the white plastic surgeon, tell him the best job that’s possible with your stretch marks even if you are left at the very lowest part of your abdomen after procedure. That should be a fair compromise to have everything else done correctly.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom, MD