People are sometimes left with empty hanging folds of skin after pregnancy, serious weight loss or sometimes just with aging. When this loose skin is surgically removed from the belly, it is called abdominoplasty or tummy tuck.  It is usually combined with liposuction around the abdomen, the hips and the love handles with amazing results When we reconstruct also the belly button we are talking about umbilicoplasty.

Abdominoplasty can be done under general or local anesthesia and sedation.

The scar will be larger than the cesarean one but it will fade over time. It will be permanent and its final width, height and color is not entirely predictable. However, it hardly can be seen because it is very low at the least visible areas.

The most common complications of body contouring surgery are hematoma (an accumulation of blood under the skin), seroma (fluid accumulation under the skin) and numbness of the skin. Most of the feeling usually comes back. Hematoma and seroma may require intervention to drain the blood or serum that has accumulated if it is a large amount.

Problems with healing after surgery are also possible, especially if you are a smoker. Normal activities can usually be resumed within  10 days and many people return to work the second week after surgery. It can take 6-12 months to see the final result of tummy tuck.