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Today, we’re going to talk about tummy tuck versus liposuction. What does what and who needs what?
The first patient here on the left with the before and after is an example of a tummy tuck. The second patient is an example of liposuction.
Now, the tummy tuck’s function is to make the stomach flat. The person who has to have a tummy tuck is a person whose muscles are weak, usually due to pregnancy. And their stomach is round because the muscles are weak.
Liposuction is a fat surgery. And what we’re doing in liposuction, the biggest part of liposuction is making the shape and making the curves. Now, if the stomach is round because of fat then liposuction becomes an option. If the stomach is round because of loose muscles, tummy tuck becomes a requirement.
So let’s look at the patients. First patient, this is before and this is after. This patient is not very heavy. This patient doesn’t have a lot of fat but the stomach is round. As opposed to a liposuction patient whose stomach is rounder than really the tummy tuck patient. But in reality, her abdominal wall muscles are strong which are back here. Her abdomen is fat because of skin and fat. That’s what makes her stomach round.
So this person has to have a tummy tuck because the muscles are weak. This person has an option for liposuction because the muscles are strong. And that’s essentially the main and the definitive difference between the two. If the muscles are weak, you have no choice but to do the tummy tuck or an abdominoplasty to tighten the muscles. If the muscles are strong, liposuction becomes an option.
Now, what are we trying to do or what do we do with the tummy tuck? What we’re doing with a tummy tuck is we make an incision low down the pelvis. Raising the flap from the pelvis to the ribs leaving the bottom half of the belly button in place and then what we’re doing is we’re imprecating the muscles with sutures to tighten the stomach. So that imprecation of the muscles takes this weak fascia from this to that, and that’s what’s making the stomach flat is imprecate the muscles.
If we do liposuction, because the muscles are weak, the stomach would still be round. So liposuction is not an option for a person with the weak muscles.
Three things that make a good tummy tuck. One, the scars are low and hidden where the underwear is going to be. And you can see-part of the scar here. You can see part of the scar here. But we’ve hidden the scar low.
The second thing, the scar of the belly button is inside so we don’t see the scar outside on the abdomen which is a giveaway for a tummy tuck.
The last thing is the top of the muscles are muscles are flat. The top of the abdomen, above the belly button is flat. Now, this is a problem because physically doing the surgery, it’s very difficult to tighten the muscles from the belly button up, and very easy to tighten the muscles from the belly button down so a lot of people that have tummy tuck have a problem with tummy tuck that the top pokes out and the bottom is flat. So we have to try very hard as surgeons when we do the tummy tuck to make sure we tighten the muscles on a top.
The top needs to as tight as the bottom or even maybe a little bit more because naturally everybody has got a little bit of pouch. If you look at movie star or any top model, the top is flatter then there’s a pooch on the bottom so that’s natural. So we got to get the top sticking out more then the bottom, this is ugly. So that’s the point of what we’re trying to do with a tummy tuck.
Now, this person had a liposuction. And the liposuction worked on this patient because the abdominal wall muscles were strong and the stomach is round because of skin and fat. So now when we do the liposuction, we’re requiring the skin to contract. We’re counting on the liposuction to get the skin to contract.
If you look in the before, the muscles were here, the skin is here. Now, the muscles are right next to the skin. So as we do the liposuction and we pour all the fat cells between the muscles and skin. As it heals, the skin just retracts and draws back to the muscles. And that’s how we get from this to that.
The big deal in the liposuction is creating curves. You can see this person is a straight line. So afterwards, we’ve got a curvy figure. So that’s really what liposuction does. It makes curves and shape. But what it cannot do is tighten the abdominal wall muscles. Now the curve on this patient, the increase waist, that was liposuction. We did liposuction on waist to make the curve.
The tummy tuck is really about making the stomach flat. So if the muscles are weak then the tummy tuck is what’s needed. If the muscles are strong, liposuction becomes an option.
Now, the big deal on this surgery is making the skin contracts. And if you look at my other video about skin contracting, liposuction is about the skin. The key to liposuction is getting the skin to go from this to that. So that’s really the story on who needs a tummy tuck and who has the option for liposuction.
So that’s kind of the idea I want to get across because this is a common question everybody asks, “Can I have a tummy tuck or can I have a liposuction?” The point again I want to make is this stomach is round, this stomach is round. This stomach has weak muscles so has to have a tummy tuck. This stomach has strong muscles so liposuction becomes an option.
You don’t always have to have a tummy tuck if you have a round stomach. If the muscles are strong liposuction is an option. You have to decide on the pros and cons of each procedure. What we do with tummy tuck is we take away the skin from the belly button to the pelvis.
So if you look at these pictures, these stretch marks are those stretch marks. Before, she has stretch marks above and below the belly button. After, only stretch marks below. No stretch marks above. So if stretch marks are the most important thing for you, think about the tummy tuck which is taking away skin. If you don’t like to have a long scar, think about liposuction. So everything has a plus and a minus.
Now, one thing is a sure fact with both liposuction and tummy tucks is that when you take away a storage compartment for calories from one place, another place will compensate. Anytime we do cosmetic surgery, it’s a rob Peter to pay Paul. If we cut away the skin from the abdomen and fat, the calories that would have gone in there may go someplace else, the back or the buttocks.
When we do liposuction on the stomach, the fat is going to go someplace else. It might be the buttocks, it might be the back or wherever you doing liposuction.
So both tummy tuck and liposuction are a “rob Peter to pay Paul” procedure. Anytime you take away a storage location for calories, another area will compensate.
Now, this is the end of this video but these are the points I want you to see. I want you to see that the tummy tuck and the liposuction can both make a round stomach flat but they’re doing different things. They both work on the abdomen but they’re doing different things.
Thanks for watching the video. I’m trying to make more videos for the video education section on the website. And you can look at all the videos on liposuction on Brazilian butt lift on the tummy tuck and you can try to get an idea and understanding of what procedure does what.
Thanks very much and we’ll keep trying to make more of these videos in the future. I think they’re good. I think they’re good information and I think the more the patient knows, the better decision they can make, the happier they will be after surgery if you ask all your questions before. You should never go into surgery without every question answered. It’s too later afterwards. Always ask all your questions before. Never be shy about asking a question. All questions are good questions. Take care. Bye.