Am I a good candidate for mini tummy tuck? (Photos)

In my experience, few patients are candidates for a mini tummy tuck. This only treats below the belly button and can distort, under treat the abdomen.

A full, traditional tummy tuck gives far superior results as it includes the entire belly muscle tightening and allows removal of more skin.

The only difference on the outside is the belly button scar as both will have lower scar, but inside is so much better.

An exam and consultation with a plastic surgeon is recommended to discuss your options and expectations.

It's not about how big or heavy a person is with regard to mini versus full; it's about the anatomy of the abdominal layers. You have significant muscle laxity, an umbilical hernia, over expanded skin of 2/3rds of the abdomen with significant peri-umbilical skin and fat thinning. A mini tummy tuck will not do the job, even remotely. The most important maneuver to flatten your abdomen is muscle repair, and once that is performed, the issues with your skin would become apparent. You have excess skin, and it extends above the belly button. The only way to rectify that is with a full tummy tuck.

Hi there,
With 2.5 to 3 inches of muscle separation, a mini tummy tuck is usually not enough, and a full tummy tuck is the better choice for most people.
Here's why. A mini only works below the belly button. Muscle separation almost always runs above the belly button too, and a mini can't reach up there to repair it. If you only fix the bottom half, you can be left with a bulge above the navel, which is exactly what most people are trying to get rid of. A full tummy tuck lets your surgeon stitch the muscles back together from the bottom of your breastbone down to your pubic bone, and it removes loose skin above and below the belly button.
A mini is a great operation for the right person: someone with a small pooch and loose skin only below the belly button and no real separation above it. That's a fairly narrow group.
Separation this wide is very fixable, and the repair holds up well long term. An in-person exam is needed for personal advice so your surgeon can feel exactly where the separation starts and stops.
All the best!

​Without examining you it’s difficult to be 100% sure but based on the photos it looks like you really need a full tummy tuck. Your separation goes above the belly button and the belly button itself shows a hernia and significant loose skin on top. A mini tummy tuck only addresses the skin below the belly button and a repair of the muscles below the belly button will result in a bulge in the upper abdomen within a few years. You would most likely be very unhappy with the results of a mini tummy tuck and seeking a more expensive revision procedure in the near future. I’d suggest having a consultation with a local plastic surgeon to be examined in person and get a better sense of what your options are but be very cautious if anyone says a mini tuck will work. Hope that helps!

Your photos show a rounded abdomen both above and below the belly button with some loose skin, which fits a 2.5 to 3 inch separation along the whole midline. A mini tummy tuck repairs the muscle only below the belly button, so the upper abdomen would stay rounded and look worse in comparison. For this degree of separation, a full tummy tuck is the right operation; it repairs the muscle from the ribs to the pubic bone, removes the loose skin and keeps the scar low in your underwear line.

Hi. Based on the photos and the 2.5 to 3-inch (approximately 6.4 to 7.6 cm) abdominal separation you mentioned, a full tummy tuck might be more appropriate than a mini-tummy tuck.
A mini-tummy tuck is generally recommended when excess skin and muscle separation are limited and concentrated below the navel.
In your case, if the diastasis also extends above the navel, a full tummy tuck would allow for a more extensive repair of the musculature and the removal of excess abdominal skin.
However, it is not possible to confirm the type of surgery based solely on a photograph. It is important to evaluate the location and extent of the diastasis, the amount of excess skin, and the quality of the tissues.
I would recommend an in-person consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon to determine which procedure would provide you with the most comprehensive correction.