Pregnancy and abdominoplasty
Pregnancy is one of the happiest events in a woman’s life, but these nine months can greatly alter your body shape. Some women will find it easy to regain a flat abdomen and toned skin, while others will find it more difficult to regain a beautiful figure.
Why these differences ? Because even though the abdominal skin is highly elastic, it does not return to its original shape, that’s why abdominoplasty is the only way to remove excess skin.
What is an abdominoplasty or a tummy tuck ?
Abdominoplasty or tummy tuck improves the appearance of an abdomen which is damaged by excessively loose skin, sometimes reaching as far as the pubis. It also strengthens muscles particularly after twin pregnancies.
Abdominoplasty acts on 4 components :
Removal of excess fat through liposuction.
Firming up the muscular wall in case of distension.
Correction of diastasis of the rectus muscles.
Tightening the skin.
Abdominoplasty is performed under general anaesthesia. You will need to take a fortnight off work before resuming your activities. The sizeable scar is concealed in the patient’s panties.
Time between surgery and pregnancy
You need to have regained your pre-pregnancy weight before considering abdominoplasty which takes between 6 months and a year on average. Similarly, you must wait three months after the end of breast-feeding.
Your body needs time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth, so don’t push it.
Abdominoplasty between pregnancies ?
If you’re planning to have several children, you must opt for the operation after all your pregnancies to avoid losing the benefit of the abdominoplasty. Sometimes, liposuction of the tummy is sufficient between two pregnancies to improve your appearance while you wait for definitive action on the skin apron.
Ideally, you should wait between six months and a year. But if you get pregnant before then, don’t panic ! You’ll just have to watch out for weight gain during the first few months of pregnancy so that the scarring continues to progress. The only risk you run is of altering the visual result of your operation.