Tummy Tuck: Prices, Photos, Reviews, Info, Q&A

Tummy Tuck vs Mini-Tummy Tuck

Based on your photos, you could have either a mini-tummytuck or a full tummy tuck.

Both will give you good results but the full tummy tuck will give you a much flatter look – and the scar is only slighty longer.

It just depends on your ultimate aesthetic goal & how much down time you are prepared to have. (Maisam Fazel, MBBChir, FRCS)

Full Tummy Tuck Or Mini Tummy Tuck – Which Is Best For Me?

Your picture shows a great deal of muscle separation and a reasonable amount of loose skin above your belly button, therefore my best appraisal without the benefit of an in person physical exam would be you need a full tummy tuck.

The candidate for Mini Tummy Tuck

Full tummy tucks repair abdominal muscle separation and remove all the excess skin from the top of your belly button to slightly below the top of your pubic hair. Mini tummy tucks are rarely the right answer.

I recommend you see a Board Certified plastic surgeon experienced in the Mommy Makeover with a great deal of experience in full vs. mini tummy tucks. (S. Larry Schlesinger, MD, FACS, Honolulu Plastic Surgeon)

Would A Mini tummy tuck Be Fine For Me?

Your pictures are too limited to give much of an answer, but from what I can see it appears you need a full tummy tuck including muscle tightening from breast bone to pubis. (Ronald V. DeMars, MD, Portland Plastic Surgeon)

Candidate for Mini Tummy Tuck surgery

A mini tummy tuck is not likely to give a significant improvement. You may need full tightening of your muscles and more skin removal. (Karol A. Gutowski, MD, FACS, Chicago Plastic Surgeon)

There is a major difference between a mini and full abdominoplasty

There is a major difference between a mini-tummy tuck and a full abdominoplasty. There are two advantages to a mini-abdominoplasty, namely a shorter scar and a quicker recovery. The full abdominoplasty is a much larger procedure involving removal of more skin and tightening of more muscles so it has a larger recovery. Basically a mini procedure removes about 50% skin between the hairline and the belly button and tightens skin in the lower abdomen. It does nothing to address skin or muscle above the belly button. Patients often hope that it will but it does not.

Candidate for Mini Tummy Tuck photo

The full tummy tuck is indeed a larger scar which is what scares off many patients but fully restores a flat abdomen with loose skin and muscle above the belly button. Your photo appears to have loose skin above the umbilicus (although it is impossible to tell without an exam and understanding your goals.) Most patients I have found to be disappointed in the limited results of a mini-tummy tuck and I bet you would fall into this category. (Evan Sorokin, MD, Cherry Hill Plastic Surgeon)

Definetely you would need a complete TT otherwise you surely will be reoperated by unsufficient correction because that looks like a rectus abdominal hernia, pplly, because you look thin and protruding belly. (Ramon Navarro, MD, Mexico Plastic Surgeon)

Candidate for Mini Tummy Tuck photo before

A helpful maneuver you can do to help you decide between a “mini” and a “full” tummy tuck is to bend forward when you’re not wearing clothes. If you can do this in front of a mirror, even better. In that position look at how the skin wrinkles up.

Can you grab a handful of skin out toward the side of your abdomen? If you have wrinkles that extend out more than about 2 or 3 inches to either side of the belly button or if you can grab a handful of skin toward the side, you may be happier with a “full” tummy tuck than a mini.

It’s hard to tell from your photos but I have found that mini tummy tucks work best in women in their thirties who have just a limited amount of loose skin in the lower central abdomen and maybe a bit of fatty fullness. Most women, in my experience, really do better with a longer incision tummy tuck that will allow removal of that loose lateral abdominal skin that is almost always present. (Kelly R. Kunkel, MD, Manhattan Plastic Surgeon)

Candidate for Mini Tummy Tuck operation

It is difficult to tell form just a photograph but a mini-tummy tuck will not treat the loose skin above the umbilicus and often cannot treat the loose muscle above the umbilicus. (Steven Wallach, MD, Greenwood Village Plastic Surgeon)

It depends on the look you want. Mini tummy tuck results are limited compared to a full tummy tuck. You may also choose one or the other depednding on future child bearing concerns. Discuss this with your surgeon. (Thomas A. Narsete, MD)

Many women wish they could get by with the smaller scar of a mini-abdominoplasty. Very few can. Even with the limited photos you provided it is clear that you would benefit most from a full abdominoplasty.

A TT addresses not only excess skin, but the muscles as well. You don’t appear to have that much excess skin, but I’ll bet when you lean forward or sit down there is more than meets the eye.

Your bigger problem is the separation of the muscles that causes the protuberance of your abdomen. It starts well above your belly button. The tightening of the muscles needs to start at the bottom of your breast bone and extend to the pubic bone. That can’t be done through a small incision low on your abdomen. You have the potential of having a fabulous result. Don’t cheat yourself. See a Board Certified Plastic (not Cosmetic) Surgeon and you won’t regret it. I never have. (Lori H. Saltz, MD)