An ongoing misconception we at Atlantic Coast Aesthetics encounter a lot is the notion that cosmetic surgery is only for women, despite the fact that a number of plastic surgery procedures are utilized by men and women alike. One example of this is tummy tucks, the topic of this week’s Atlantic Coast Aesthetics Question of the Week. The patient asks, “I had gastric sleeve surgery 5 months ago [and] I lost 75lbs. I’m considering a male tummy tuck with [a] six pack. How does the process work?” Dr. Thomas Pane, our Chief Medical Officer and founder, wanted to take on this question to emphasize the point that cosmetic surgery isn’t the sole province of women.
In men, tummy tuck surgery is almost exclusively done when someone has lost a lot of weight. This could be through the traditional standby of diet and exercise or the more radical measure of bariatric surgery. From a purely anatomical and physiological standpoint, the basic procedure is no different for a male than a female, because the priority here is to tighten and adjust the loose skin left from the rapid weight loss so it shows a flat, even profile over the abdomen. This means that the excess skin is removed and the remainder attached together over the abdominal wall just below the underwear line, to minimize the telltale scarring of this type of procedure.
The primary concern with a tummy tuck is that the patient has reached a plateau in weight that can be expected to remain reasonably stable for an extended period of time. This is because if the patient begins to gain weight again or starts losing a lot of weight very quickly, the procedure may have to be revised or completely redone. In the case of weight gain, this can also lead to stretch marks and in some situations there may be a risk of rupturing the connected skin at the attachment site. For this reason, achieving a relatively stable weight without substantial loss or gain is an important benchmark in determining whether a tummy tuck is appropriate for a given patient at a certain time.
In this particular case, it’s possible to perform the procedure at five months post-op from the original bariatric surgery, but Dr. Pane says it’s better to wait a little bit longer and ensure the weight loss has plateaued properly. This will help avoid the necessity for revision or further intervention later and ensure the patient gets the best possible results from the procedure, because revision always has a higher risk of potential problems than the original procedure. Therefore, if at all possible, taking the extra time may be worthwhile now to prevent complications further down the road.
Another point of concern is the six-pack profile the patient desires. If the skin of the anterior abdominal wall, or front of the body in laymen’s terms, is relatively thin, the muscle definition beneath will show through fairly clearly. If it is not or greater definition is desired, it is possible to use liposuction in a procedure called abdominal etching to delineate the musculature and add definition. Dr. Pane says the problem with this procedure is that it is almost always a poor idea to combine abdominoplasty and abdominal etching into a single surgery because the patient is just asking for problems with the healing process.
Generally speaking, Dr. Pane says that keeping abdominal etching and other muscle-defining procedures as options can be done, but normally a single procedure should do the job. As long as the weight remains stable and the patient remains on the diet and exercise plan worked out with the surgeon who did the bariatric surgery, the muscles should show ample definition without further intervention being necessary or desirable. However, as with any other kind of surgical procedure, taking the time to ensure the best possible results and following aftercare recommendations is the single biggest determinant of success or failure.
If you have a question relating to any form of cosmetic surgery, we at ACA welcome the chance to help point you in the right direction for your body and goals. Feel free to email us at https://acplasticsurg.com, call us at (561) 422-4116 or follow us on Facebook or Twitter with your questions. Your question may be our next ACA Question of the Week, answered live by Dr. Pane during an upcoming Google Hangout. Remember, at Atlantic Coast Aesthetics we believe there’s only one bad question, and that’s the one you don’t ask!