The Bikini Line Tummy Tuck

The Bikini Line Tummy Tuck
Like all structures on the body, things change with age,
gravity, and the general wear and tear of life. Nowhere is
this more apparent than on the female abdomen. Puberty,
pregnancy, and weight change all play potential havoc with
the smooth flat abdomen that most women have in youth.
Pregnancy is the biggest culprit here, stretching the skin
through expansion and contraction and leaving scars from
c-sections.

The c-section scar itself may lay flat as it shrinks and
heals but the overlying skin excess and loose skin often
falls over this scar, resulting in an unsightly bulge of
the lower abdomen. Often stretch marks extend upward from
the scar and around the bellybutton as well. Unfortunately,
no amount of dieting and exercise will shrink this skin
excess and many women can attest to that observation.
Abdominoplasty, otherwise known as a tummy tuck, will get
rid of this problem but a traditional or full tummy tuck
may be a bigger procedure than many women desire to
undergo. The length of a full tummy tuck scar (hip to hip)
may be excessive given the amount of lower skin excess. In
addition, a full tummy tuck requires the belly button to be
repositioned at the skin level resulting in a scar around
it. Despite my best efforts at making belly button scars, I
find most of them to be somewhat visible and not completely
normal in appearance.

An alternative approach is a more limited version of an
abdominoplasty, known as a mini-tummy tuck or for a better
visual understanding, a Bikini Line Tummy Tuck. With this
approach, the length of the resulting scar is shorter but,
more importantly, it stays very low. (hence the name Bikini
Line) It stays low because the amount of skin removed is
less and the cut out is below the belly button level. This
allows the initial incision of the cut out to be put as low
as possible and does not place a lot of tension on the
final skin closure which can cause it to be pulled up
higher. (as occurs in a full tummy tuck) In addition, no
scar results around the belly button since as it is
repositioned lower from underneath the skin before the
final skin closure.

While not every woman who has overhanging skin and fat on
their abomen is a candidate for the Bikini Line Tummy Tuck,
about half of the women that I see are. Women that are
close to a good body weight with a small amount of lower
abdominal skin excess, with or without a c-section scar,
are ideal candidates. A flat abdomen, a normal-appearing
belly button, and a resulting scar that fits inside the
bikini line is the result.

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Dr Barry Eppley runs a private plastic surgery practice
through his hospital-based medspa locations at Clarian
Health in Indianapolis. To learn more about the latest
trends in plastic surgery, spa therapies, or skin care, go
to his daily blog, http://www.exploreplasticsurgery.com .