As you can see by the many responses below, there is a unanimous decision about this one. Tummy tuck procedure is a major surgery and the results are usually very nice. However, getting tummy tuck pregnancy will likely destroy the results of the surgery and you may have to undergo this expensive and invasive procedure all over again. My advice would be the same, try to avoid undergoing this procedure until after you are done with child bearing.
That said, I understand the pressure of dating as a single mom and you are likely feeling self concious about your belly. If there is no other alternative to make you feel better then there is no reason you can’t have a tummy tuck now. Just understand the risks of the procedure and realize you may have to do it all over again later. Hope this helps, Erez Sternberg, MD, Jacksonville Plastic Surgeon.
Generally, it is not recommended to have a child after an abdominoplasty. Having said that, I go to great lengths to only operate on patients who have had all of their children, however, I’ve had several instances where a patient had a full abdominoplasty and had a child without any problem. It does make for an increased laxity in the area. In this case, you may need to have a secondary mini or even a full abdominoplasty depending on the degree of skin redundancy above and below the umbilicus. In general, I would recommend strongly that you wait until you’ve had all of your children so that you don’t have to repeat the procedure. There’s nothing about a tummy tuck that interferes with pregnancy, but it’s going to put some extra miles on your abdominoplasty. It won’t damage you but will most likely suboptimize your results.As far as safety is concerned you can plan a family as soon as you’re ready. It will loosen your abdominal wall again but your liposuction shouldn’t be overly affected. You can always go back and have a “tune up” on the tummy tuck by tightening and flattening the muscles again.
I agree with my colleagues here. It is best to opt for a Tummy Tuck AFTER you are all done having kids. Although I do not believe a Tummy Tuck will affect a future tummy tuck pregnancy, a future pregnancy can potential undo all the benefits of your tummy tuck surgery. Revisional surgery will most likely be required.
Although there is no reason your should experience any harm to either yourself or your fetus if you got pregnant after having a tummy tuck, you will effectively “undo” the results that you got with your tummy tuck. If you wait the recommended 6 weeks of early wound healing after you have your tummy tuck, should you become pregnant, it is unlikely that you would have any adverse affects, but you will get striae (strech marks) that will not be easily removed after childbirth and a subsequent surgery.
I typically tell my patients that they should consider waiting until they are done having children before having the full tummy tuck. Some women are good candidates to have a partial tummy tuck if they are still planning to have more children, then when they have completed childbearing, go on to have the full tummy tuck.
The issue of having a baby after a tummy tuck is that it may reverse some of the improvements made by the procedure. You can certainly get another tummy tuck down the road if this happens but in the ideal world you would get a tummy tuck after you have finished having children.