Whats the Average Price of Panniculectomy During Hernia Repair?

Congratulations on your significant weight loss; you should be proud of this accomplishment. Based on your description, it sounds like you may be an excellent candidate for tummy tuck  surgery.  This operation differs from panniculectomy surgery. Tummy tuck operation will serve to reapproximate the abdominal wall muscles that have spread with pregnancy, will provide exposure for repair of the ventral hernia, and will remove the “excess skin” on the lower abdomen. Often, the presence of a C-section scar does cause the excess skin to overlap more so than it would otherwise.

You will find that the costs of abdominoplasty surgery will vary from region to region and from one office to another. It will be up to you to do your due diligence in the process of plastic surgeon selection. I would suggest starting with the American Society of Plastic Surgery and/or the Aesthetic Society of Plastic Surgery to obtain a list of well experienced board-certified plastic surgeons.


Then, I would suggest you visit a few surgeons whose practices  concentrate on aesthetic surgery. Ask  to see lots of examples of their work and preferably speak/see patients who have had similar procedures done.

You will find,  while doing your due diligence,  that there are many different “specialties” who will offer their services to you;  again, I strongly recommend you concentrate on surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.  

I would also suggest that you do not base your selection of plastic surgeon primarily on costs of surgery;  keep in mind that revisionary surgery may be more costly in many ways.

I hope this helps.

Your question is commonly asked and touches on several topics:


- Are pregnancies often associated with VENTRAL HERNIA (which depending on your insurance MAY be covered) VS. MUSCLE SEPARATION (whose repair is never covered by insurance companies)?


- Is pregnancy commonly associated with creation of a skin/fat overhanging apron ("Pannus")?


- What is the BEST way to find a Plastic surgeon who is most likely to help me achieve my cosmetic goals?

A Ventral Hernia is NOT the same as a Muscle Separation (diastasis). In order for a uterus to achieve the size it reaches at 9 months / full term it ALWAYS irreversibly stretches out the abdominal muscles and skin to a variable extent AND it irreversibly separates the six pack muscles (diastasis) to SOME extent. But it uncommonly causes and intra-abdominal organ/structure to squeeze out through a canal/sac into a location it does not normally occupy (the definition of a hernia).

Age and pregnancy(ies) create skin laxity but NEVER create a pannus. Since the skin stretches AFTER the underlying muscles have been stretched, merely removing the lower skin WITHOUT "taking in" and tightening the stretched out and separated tummy muscles (ie a "Panniculectomy") will NEVER result in a flat, attractive tummy and is the wrong operation in women who had one or more children.

No private medical insurance company and especially no Federal health coverage plan (Medicare, Medicaid, Champus, Tricare etc) EVER pays for cosmetic surgery, including tightening of the the tummy after pregnancies by repairing muscle separation. Furthermore, attempting to fool them will NOT be received kindly and may well result, as it should, in a FULL fraud investigation which may end in stiff fines and prison time.

Surgeons who climb over each other to offer you the lowest prices are NEVER the best surgeons and have to do so. Furthermore, anyone who is willing to commit insurance fraud, risking destruction of his career and jail time, by misrepresenting a muscle separation (diastasis) as a hernia and perform a Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty) by having the public pay for it is obviously not guided by basic considerations of self-preservation much less, ethics. Do you REALLY think such an individual would  care about the quality of his work or your well-being? Think again.

Consult The American Society of Plastic Surgeons - wwwplasticsurgeryorg for its membership. See several Plastic surgeons and go with the one you like the most. A young, slim healthy woman such as your self should get a FANTASTIC result in the right hands. Please, do not compromise your health or results.

Good Luck!

Peter A Aldea, MD

Memphis, TN