I get asked this question a lot. “Why can’t I do a tummy tuck when I get a Csection?” Sounds good. Some people look at me like, duh, why haven’t you thought of this?
Anyone who has been pregnant knows their body is not normal at the end of pregnancy. During pregnancy your blood volume grows by 50%. If you labor hard, everything down south is swollen. Your body has been dedicated to creating a healthy baby, depleting your body of some nutrition. If you breastfeed, that continues. Your weight is not normal. Most of us have not worked out for months, and even for you uber Bay area athletes- admit it: you can’t really get a good core workout with a giant baby in your belly.
We plastic surgeons have thought about it. You are in surgery, anesthesia, everything is stretched out….. But a true tummy tuck is a big surgery. It is two layers- the bottom layer tightens your muscles at the midline where you formed the diastasis. The second layer is the excess skin. When we mobilize the skin, we undermine it from the pubic bone all the way up to the ribcage.
Many Csections are after laboring and failing vaginal delivery. The patients are exhausted and swollen, and so is their tissue. You have significant blood loss during delivery. There have been studies in the past which linked combined surgery to higher complications. Please reread paragraph one again.
Elective cosmetic surgery is that. Elective. Cosmetic. It must be SAFE. You need to be well, healthy, energetic. You have a newborn to feed and care for and lift. Blood loss, poor wound healing, opening of your incision, bleeding, inability to lift heavy objects, staying bent at the waist, drains, liquids only for the first few days- it is too much.
What about the people who advertise “Tummy tuck with C section, Get a 2 for 1!” Those are not true tummy tucks. That is usually a little wedge of extra skin off the lower belly. A small skin wedge is akin to a miniabdominoplasty and adds little extra risk. This is not a tummy tuck. During this procedure they are not tightening the underlying muscles, nor are they addressing any of the loose skin or muscle above the belly button. But if you have to have the C section, why not take a little extra skin? I am not against it. Removing a wedge of skin will lengthen your C section scar, but it may be worth it.
As for the real tummy tuck with the C section…. I get it. I would love the two for one. I would love to have been done with my third kid and come out looking like a movie star. But it is surgery. A big surgery. And to do it right, your body needs to be normal. You need to be healthy. You need to have normal blood levels and nutrition. And you need to be able to focus on YOU.
You just gave birth. You are lucky. Focus on your beautiful baby. Trust me, your baby isn’t looking at your belly…. They have other parts of you they want.