Abdominoplasty & Panniculectomy to Improve Hemoglobin A1C, Hypertension, and Cholesterol

It is quite common that people with diabetes, htn, and cholesterol wish to undergo abdominoplasty procedures to improve their abdominal contour. I tell patients that it is best for all medical conditions to be controlled and optimized prior to abdominoplasty or panniculectomy surgery.

It is quite common that these medical conditions often improve after abdominoplasty or panniculectomy surgery. Patients require a reduction in their dose of anti-hypertensive medication, their blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C levels improve, and so can some conditions such as back pain improve.

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Abdominoplasty in the Weight Loss Patient

Abdominoplasty or body contouring procedures are common following gastric bypass surgery such as roux-y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy.

After patients have lost weight and their weight has stabilized, they are candidates for body contouring procedures.

The abdominoplasty helps to restore the contour to the abdominal wall that is traditionally lost following weight gain. Often, when patients lose weight, they have excess skin which can be bothersome. The excess skin is often a reminder that they would like to get rid of.

Patient satisfaction is high following body contouring procedures.

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Abdominoplasty in Male Patients

Abdominoplasty procedures are becoming more common in men these days. Men often go to the gym to lift weights or increase their amount of cardiac exercise to lose weight. The resulting excess skin that men accumulate often does not dissipate without a skin resection. That is the abdominoplasty procedure in men is typically a skin excision only and does not include the abdominal muscle plication that is normally performed in a female. That being said, men often feel great after abdominoplasty procedures. As such, men often want to return to the gym or to exercise very early. It is important for men to rest in the post-operative period. Too much activity can create shear between the skin and the abdominal wall and promote the development of a seroma.

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Body Contouring and Abdominoplasty

Abdominoplasty and Body Contouring procedures such as breast reduction and mastopexy procedures are common. Typically after these procedures, patients continue to lose weight. Prior to the abdominoplasty procedure, the stomach, small intestines, and large intestines all have a certain amount of room for food. After the abdominoplasty, there is a reduction in abdominal domain and patients often develop early satiety.

Typically patients continue to lose weight. It is also common for patients to lose weight following breast reduction surgery. After breast reduction surgery patients are able to return to exercise and continue to lose weight. The breast reduction in combination with the tummy tuck surgery is very powerful.

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Abdominoplasty

Abdominoplasty procedures are common. The abdominoplasty procedure requires an incision from hip to hip. During the procedure, the skin is elevated from the abdominal wall and the borders of the rectus abdominis muscles are identified. The umbilical stalk remains on the body wall. The rectus muscles are then plicated in the midline of the abdomen. The plication tightens the abdominal muscles and restores the abdominal contour. Any excess skin that then “re-drapes” over the lower abdomen is then excises. Drains are placed in the lower abdomen and usually remain in place for approximately one week to ten days.

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Abdominoplasty

Patients often request abdominoplasty procedures after they have delivered several children. After childbirth, the muscles of the abdominal wall are stretched out. Patients often state, that no matter how many sit-ups they do, they can just never improve the contour of their lower abdomen.

After an abdominoplasty, the lower abdomen gains a better level of overall tension. The lower muscles are now able to hold in the contents of the abdominal domain and the overall contour of the abdomen is improved.

Patient satisfaction is very high following abdominoplasty.

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Abdominoplasty

Abdominoplasty is one of the more commonly performed cosmetic operations in our practice. There is a high satisfaction rate in patients who have undergone this procedure.


The abdominoplasty procedure lasts approximately 3 hours. The procedure is performed under a general anesthetic, so the patient does not see, hear, or feel anything during the procedure.  A long acting local anesthetic is administered during the procedure, so there is minimal pain along the incision site. Patients mostly describe a "tightness" along their midline from the plication sutures that bring the rectus muscles back toward the midline.


Drains are placed beneath the skin and exit from the pubic region. Drains are typically left in place for one to two weeks. An abdominal binder is to be worn at all times for 4-6 weeks.

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