Tummy tuck procedure has become one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries among women, mainly because it can provide amazing results in flattening your midsection and contouring your body. This is the perfect way to achieve the look you’re looking for, especially if you’ve been through pregnancy. So tummy tuck is a great solution for after pregnancy. But what if you get pregnant after the procedure?

What is tummy tuck?

The technical name of tummy tuck is abdominoplasty. Through this cosmetic procedure, the surgeon removes excess body fat, tightens the lose skin and restores separated abdominal muscles. These all conditions are quite common after pregnancy or weight gain.

There’s not only ONE type of tummy tuck procedure, but there are several variations, mostly depending on how much excess skin the cosmetic surgeon needs to remove and how strong are the abdominal muscles. So depending on these factors, your cosmetic surgeon might recommend:

Complete Adbominoplasty – With this type, your cosmetic surgeon will use surgical techniques to remove excess skin from your abdomen, tighten your abdominal muscles and flatten the area. This is normally done with a horizontal incision in the lower part of your abdomen (from hip bone to hip bone) so when the incision heals, it will be covered by your bikini and no one will have a clue that you went through a procedure like this.

Abdominoplasty combined with liposuction – With liposuction, the cosmetic surgeon will target belly pooch, love handles and excess at that have accumulated in your tights during the course of pregnancy. And when we combine this with abdominoplasty, we can get a better contoured body shape

Partial Abdominoplasty – Not every patient will have so much excess skin and fat that they will require a complete and full abdominoplasty. Some women will have minimum excess skin and fat deposits, so for them a mini tummy tuck procedure is ideal. Compared to the regular tummy tuck, this procedure is less complicated and it is done within a few hours.

Who can have tummy tuck procedure?

Even though the benefits of bringing your pre-pregnancy look back are amazing, tummy tuck procedures are not just for those women that have gone through pregnancy. Sagging skin in the abdominal region can be caused by many things like:

  • Previous surgeries
  • Weight loss
  • Genetics and
  • Aging

Anyone who’s in good health and would like to have a flat and toned midsection can opt in for a tummy tuck procedure. And this is NOT only limited to women. In recent years, men have also requested this procedure to get a better look.

Pregnancy after tummy tuck surgery

The internet is full of various tummy tuck myths and most of them are baseless rumors. But, many women do wonder if they can get pregnant after the procedure and yes they can. You have to know that tummy tuck procedures are ONLY cosmetic, superficial procedures and it doesn’t alter or interfere with your fertility or ability to carry a child. But, to be on the safe side, we recommend that you wait at least 12 months post-surgery to get pregnant again. This is just to be sure that all incisions and scars heal completely.

Can pregnancy ruin tummy tuck results?

Going through pregnancy, after a tummy tuck procedure has NO risks to your health whatsoever. However, there are no guarantees that the results of the procedure will be preserve after your pregnancy.

Getting pregnant after the procedure is totally fine, but it might not be practical. The body goes through a significant physical change (weight gain, midsection expansion, muscle separation etc.). After you have the baby, there will again be sagging and stretched out skin which might make you think that having the procedure was a waste of time and money.

When should you have your tummy tuck surgery?

In order to get the best result with tummy tuck surgery, you need to aim for the right time when to have it done. This is crucial.

After your last baby

It is highly recommended that you shouldn’t have tummy tuck procedure done until you have decided that you’re done with having babies and building your family. The good think about having the procedure done after your last child is that you will enjoy the results for a longer period of time.

Several months after giving birth

It is best to have the procedure several months or at least a year after you’ve had your last baby and there are good reasons for that. First, your body needs time to recover from the demands of childbirth and breastfeeding. Second, during your postpartum period, your body will naturally shed some weight that you gained during pregnancy. So it’s best to wait this out and see how much will your cosmetic surgeon have to work with.

If you recently given birth and you don’t like the hanging, stretched and sagging skin on your abdomen and would like to have your old figure, contact Dr. Kotoske today and schedule a consult to see if a Tummy Tuck procedure is right for you.