Is A Tummy Tuck After Abdominal Lipo Sculpture Dangerous?

I agree with the other surgeons who have stated that liposuction or a previous disruption of the blood vessels long ago actually may improve the blood supply to your skin via a "delay" or neovascularization phenomenon.   There has been some concern that past mesotherapy injections or laser-assisted liposuction may actually compromise the blood supply due to vascular fibrosis (scarring) and coagulation of the blood vessel network.  That theoretically could impact the blood supply to the abdominal flap, but I still believe that after so much time has elapsed, circulation has improved and I would not hesitate to do a tummy tuck.  Plastic surgeons sometimes stage doing liposuction first and then abdominoplasty as a second procedure in certain patients, as it can be safer than doing aggressive large volume liposuction of the abdomen and body at the same time as the tummy tuck.  

There should be no risk to your abdominal skin's blood supply at this point since three years have passed since your liposuction procedure. If your skin is loose enough, then you may be a good candidate for a tummy tuck. A board certified plastic surgeon can examine you and easily determine if you are in fact a good candidate.

Best wishes,

Dr.Bruno

Liposuction is a very safe procedure before abdominoplasty as long as you have waited for full healing. In fact this is my preferable method of treating mommy makeovers. There is an old well known procedure called the delay procedure to prepare the abdominal skin flap to be raised like in an abdominoplasty. Liposuctin can work similar to that delay procedure to enhance your circulation; not make it worse. Please go to a board certified surgeon and best of luck.

I have performed a tummy tuck after liposuction on several occasions. You are at a very small risk of necrosis of some skin because you have had a previous liposuction. However the risk is very small and it should not deter you from having the procedure performed if your surgeon recommends it. I have never had a problem in a case such as yours.

This should not be a problem.  You should have a Ted Lockwood type tummy tuck to preserve as much blood flow as possible.

In theory there should not be a problem in doing a tummy tuck after having had liposculpture (liposuction) a few years earlier, but there are some potential risks. The main one depends on how much scarring there is after the liposculpture, with more expected if laser was used. This can make it difficult to expand the skin enough without putting too much stress on it. That is why no one can make a definitive recommendation without personally seeing you and assessing the degree of scarring. That is also why it is usually best when there is loose skin to do the abdominoplasty instead of lipo in the first place.

I am concerned that the doctors you may be seeing for this advice, and perhaps the one who did your "liposculpture" 3 years ago, may not be fully-trained and American Board of Plastic Surgery-certified plastic surgeons. Please understand that many doctors who claim board-certification may be certified by specialty boards that have nothing to do with plastic surgery, and a few by entirely "bogus boards." Read about this in my article on the About tab of my Profile page on this site titled: "Why Board Certification is Critical in Choosing a Plastic Surgeon."

My first concern about this was raised when you described having "liposculpture" after two pregnancies, when you should have been advised THEN that you were a better candidate for tummy tuck surgery, and that lipo (any kind) would simply further deflate your already-stretched abdominal skin. Perhaps this (liposuction) was what you asked for, but any reputable plastic surgeon would simply have told you that this was an incorrect request and given you the proper advice--saving you the unnecessary cost, risk, and healing for an operation that you now know wasn't the one you really needed. That, of course, is why you now seek the tummy tuck you should have had in the first place.

My second concern that you might not be seeing "real" plastic surgeons is your statement that they seem reluctant to perform a tummy tuck, and give you the absolutely bogus and incorrect excuse about skin being previously "separated" causing circulation problems. Any fully-trained and reputable plastic surgeon would know that (even ill-advised) liposuction 3 years ago has only INCREASED the blood flow in the now-healed  abdominal skin flap (so-called "delaying the flap") and that your risk of circulation problems (ischemia) is actually less now that everything has healed. Maybe they are reluctant to do a tummy tuck because they are not "real" plastic surgeons and never learned how to do these operations! They just don't want to tell you that, because it tips their hand about not being what they imply they are--"real" ABPS-certified plastic surgeons.

I can think of  only extremely rare and unusual situations (severe scarring and/or infection at the time of "liposculpture") in which I would have any concern about doing a tummy tuck in someone who had healed normally from this surgery 3 years in the past!

Something is rotten here, and it is the advice you have been receiving from those who seem to be "scaring" you! See several other ABPS-certified plastic surgeons and get some proper advice. I suspect it will be more similar to what I have just written, and not at all to what you have been told previously! Good luck!

To answer your question, it would be in the patients best interest to wait at least 6 months before getting an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) after abdominal lipo scultpure. It is important to wait for the skin and tissue in that area to have enough time to heal properly before it is touched again. However, after waiting 6 months, it would be safe to perform an abdominoplasty.

Performing a tummy tuck three years after having had lipo sculpture should not be a problem for you.  The only potential problem would the amount of skin removed during the surgery.  The previous liposuction  causes a lot of scarring which could  limit the amount of skin that would be removed . Having said that I have never had a problem with the amount of skin I was able to remove on someone who had previous liposuction.   The most important point here is to sit down with a board certified plastic surgeon and discuss your situation and expectations thoroughly. 

As far as doing a tummy tuck 3 years after liposuction, there should be no problem. Assuming that the Doctor is a board Certified Plastic Surgeon, there may be some other reason that he or she is reluctant  to do the procedure on you.