How Should I Prepare for My Tummy Tuck?

Dr. Waltzman will give detailed instructions for how you can best prepare for your tummy tuck. In general, patients are given a list of substances to avoid before their surgery. The list includes common substances such as Vitamin E, garlic, ginger, and fish oil, but it also contains over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol. Your tummy tuck will take your entire...

Your results will be permanent, but keep in mind – your results may be compromised if you gain weight after your tummy tuck. To help maintain your results, Dr. Waltzman suggests sticking with a healthy diet and a regular exercise regimen.

Your tummy tuck recovery should not be painful, but pain is subjective. Different people will have different reactions to the surgery. By and large, our patients report the recovery as being tolerable. Patients will feel discomfort in the form of soreness and bruising, but that’s why all patients are given prescription medication. Our patients do report that the tummy tuck...

You can still liposuction in the front of the abdominal muscles during a traditional abdominoplasty, however, you can not be as aggressive with liposuction in this particular area as other areas.

A muscle repair, or tightening, is performed in the vast majority of procedures.

Your abdominal muscles will not be enlarged or altered with a tummy tuck. The muscle repair, or tightening, does not increase the size of your muscles. If you already have well developed abdominal muscles, then a tummy tuck will help accentuate them because there will less extra skin and fat covering them up.

It is unlikely that your weight will change at all after a tummy tuck. The amount of skin that is removed typically is not enough to make much of a difference on the scale.

Yes, it is often possible to repair a small hernia at the same time as a tummy tuck. If it is a larger hernia, then sometimes the surgery will be performed with a general surgeon who will repair the hernia.

You should be in good overall health prior to a tummy tuck. Your weight should be stable for at least 6 months. It is a good idea to do a little research from reputable sources (surgeon’s website, surgery.org, plasticsurgery.com) before your consultation so you can have some good questions prepared for your surgeon. If you smoke cigarettes you should be...

You will need to fast the day of your surgery (nothing to eat or drink from midnight the night before). When you get to the surgery center you will change into a gown. The nurse will place an IV in your arm to provide fluids. You will meet your entire OR team which includes the Anesthesiologist and the Room Nurse....

There are two scars from a tummy tuck. One is around the belly button, and one is along the lower abdomen. The length of the lower scar depends on how much extra skin needs to be removed. All scars fade with time, but there will always be a scar. The best way to know how you will scar in the...

Most patients will have 2 drains after their tummy tuck. They typically stay in 1-2 weeks.