Is a Tummy Tuck in Your Future?

I can remember it like yesterday, although it was actually a couple of years ago. My younger brother, who has always had to battle his weight up and got himself a tummy tuck. He had lost weight and had been working out, so we were really shocked when all of a sudden, completely out of the blue, he ended up having a cosmetic surgery procedure to improve his looks. All vanity aside, it was then I learned that tummy tucks aren’t just for women anymore.

I had no idea there were different types of tummy tucks to actually choose from. It’s like a department store of flat bellies. Tummy tucks; or abdominoplasty to those of you who are up on the medical-speak, come in two highly popular types. There’s the mini tummy tuck, or partial abdominoplasty, and there’s the full tummy tuck.

The mini tummy tuck is geared for those who are within 10 percent of their recommended weight. This procedure is far less invasive and can be done on an outpatient basis so it doesn’t require a hospital stay. Liposuction is often times employed along with other avenues to reduce the tummy into a nice, flat as possible, slim (and good-looking) tummy. Mini abdominoplasties are often performed on those whose fat deposits are positioned below the navel.

Complete abdominoplasty, or full tummy tuck, requires true major surgery. Your abdomen will be cut in a straight line from hipbone to hipbone in this surgical procedure; the option for those who require the most correction. The incision is made low, at about the same level as your pubic hair.

Your cosmetic surgeon will then manipulate and contour the skin, the tissue and the muscle. Your belly button will have a brand new opening if you undergo this procedure. Because it's necessary to free your navel from surrounding tissue, drainage tubes may be placed and removed in a few days as your surgeon sees fit. Recovery time from a full tummy tuck can be as long as six-weeks with full healing occurring a few months later.

Needless to say, my younger brother chose to have the mini tummy tuck. The difference it made in his looks was totally worth it.