50 Yo, 3 Grown Children, Abdominal Muscle Repair

I always had an hourglass figure - large breasts and hips but a small waist. Then when I turned 50 I started putting on weight around my waist. No amount of watching my diet, eliminating alcohol or exercise helped; input on 10kg in a year with my waist disappearing as my upper abdomimen ballooned. My jackets wouldn't do up and I was terribly self conscious. The first surgeon I saw spent 15 minutes bragging about how he had written a paper explaining why a patient's BMI shouldn't be a deciding factor on whether to do abdominoplasty, then after I stripped off and he assessed me, he told me to "go away and come back when you've lost 15 kilos". I was devastated. My husband encouraged me to get a second opinion and thank goodness I did. Craig Rubinstein is delightfully personable as well as exceptionally professional and respectful. He took one look at my stomach and said "This isn't about diet, you've got severe muscle separation which needs to be fixed immediately." I was so relieved there was a medical reason for what was happening to me. It made sense too. I had developed an umbilical hernia during my second pregnancy which had been repaired some time afterwards. Fast forward twenty years that hernia had redeveloped, but being undiagnosed, had worsened over time with the muscles above and below my belly button separating by 2-3cm. In fact, all the exercise I had been doing was actually making things worse! Clearly the first surgeon I saw didn't know what he was talking about - I wasn't getting fat - I was literally busting from the seams!
It was a big operation, involving an incision from hip to hip, lifting up the skin and sewing the muscles together. As a bonus, some excess post pregnancy skin was removed, resulting in a tight, flat tummy once again. Throughout the process Craig carefully explained what he would do, and what to do expect afterwards. Even when stripped naked, Craig never made me feel uncomfortable. He is a master, completely focussed on achieving the best result. But his dedicatoin doesnt end there. He has set up his practice to provide a complete after care service. His nurse visited me every day in hospital, making sure I was on track to recovery. The first day she came with a care package of various items, including herbal tea, Arginaid, two stretchy bras and a voucher for a facial when I was feeling up to it! When I left hospital, it was a few days before Christmas, so she gave me her mobile number and said to call if I had any concerns. On the Sunday after Christmas, I woke up to find one wound was oozing pus. I rang her mobile at 9:30am and within the hour she was at my home to assess the issues, redress the wound and leave me with special dressings, betadine and tape. Wow! The after care service at the rooms was also above and beyond my expectations. The receptionists are friendly and always offer to make you a hot drink of choice. In addition to regular checking and redressing of wounds, and provision of betadine, dressings and tape, they also provided for fre two fitted Sportsbras, a bottle of bio oil and regular laser treatments to reduce scarring. Absolutely nothing was too much trouble and while you obviously pay for all these extras in the fee, Craig's fees were actually slightly less than other surgeons who didn't provide any of the extras.
So if you want to get the best advice on your condition, excellent results, feel cared for throughout the process and not have to pay for extras, I highly recommend Craig Rubinstein.