Plastic surgery abroad - Latvia

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Tummy tuck	Tummy tuck

Abdominoplasty or tummy tuck is a cosmetic surgery procedure used to make the abdomen more firm. The surgery involves the removal of excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen in order to tighten the muscle and fascia of the abdominal wall.

Why people make abdominoplasty

Usually protruding abdomen would not disappear even with a strict diet or exercising, pregnancies stretch abdominal muscles and skin and considerable weight makes skin sagging.
All there problems can be solved with tummy tuck.

One can change and improve body with with different techniques of abdominoplasty. In some cases fat should be removed from all over the abdomen, in some only from below the navel. One can have a full or a mini tummy tuck depending on that.

How tummy tuck surgery works

• surgeon makes incisions from hip to hip just above the pubic area and another incision to free the navel from the surrounding skin

• surgeon detached skin from the abdominal wall to reveal the muscles and fascia to be tightened. The muscle fascia wall is tightened with sutures
• The remaining skin and fat are tightened by removing the excess and closing the defect
• The old belly button stalk is brought out through a new hole and sutured into place
• Often surgeon may use liposuction to refine the transition zones of the abdominal sculpture
• the navel is repositioned.
  The surgeon will stitch the incisions after correcting abdomen. A surgical drain will be placed, to discharge excess fluids, if the tummy tuck is more extensive.

The surgeon will put bandages on your wounds and will help you put on special compression underwear.
The incision will be much smaller with a mini tummy tuck and the navel usually stays in the same place. The procedure includes only the area between the incision and navel.

Tummy tuck can reduce your abdomen considerably, but it leaves noticeable scars, which usually will be in the bikini area.

If you plan to lose weight considerably, you should postpone the tummy tuck. This also applies to women, who plan to get pregnant again, because it could stretch the muscles and skin once again. Tummy tuck doesn't replace a diet nor physical activities!

Before and after tommy-tuck

You should bring to surgeon your medical history and receive from him guidelines on what to eat before the surgery or which medications or vitamins to take. It is extremely important to follow these guidelines to prevent complications and speed up recovery. For example, giving up smoking is especially important to postoperative recovery.

You may feel uncomfortable in the incision area after the surgery, so you should have painkillers before the surgery. Sutures on the skin will be removed in about a week, deeper sutures - in a few weeks time. You must keep the wound dry and wear the supportive underwear during recovery.

The scar might get worse at first, but it will start to become lighter and smoother. However, scar will not disappear completely. You should:

• try silicone plasters for your scar
• wait about six weeks with strenuous activities and exercising, although moderate (and comfortable, not painful) exercising helps to recover. For example walking is good for you
• avoid sauna and direct UV-radiation.

Taking care of your body

Some doctors now recommend small fat deposits, which serve as a protection from injuries and a reserve for emergency situations. However when abdonmen grows large due to obesity people feel difficulties with doing some things, for example to tie shoe laces. Fat abdomen is mostly a problem for apple-shaped people, who tend to store fat around the fat cells in the abdomen area.

There are many reasons for gaining weight:

• if you get more energy than you can work off
• eating too fatty foods
• overeating
• eating disorders (bulimia)
• metabolic diseases
• hereditary factors.

One of the first steps to lose weight is to change lifestyle. You should try to "process" more energy and follow well minded diet.
You should not have a tummy tuck to slender abdomen for the rest of your life. It does not replace dieting or exercising. On the contrary: to maintain your postoperative "new", firm and flat abdomen, you have to work harder. Exercising helps to speed up recovery and accentuate the tightened muscles more. You can start exercising as soon as the surgeon says so and you feel better.

Tummy tuck, as well as liposuction can change your body considerably, but they are not instruments to decrease weight. There are other ways for this: a healthy diet, exercising, special diets, etc. You should consider a tummy tuck if your abdomen is unnaturally large compared to the rest of the body and neither dieting nor exercising works.