Short answer: Yes. You can get pregnant after a tummy tuck. That being said, every plastic surgeon you meet will tell you to tuck after babies. Why?
Well, what makes you want to get a tummy tuck now? You are likely:
- stretched out
- bothered by hanging or loose skin
- experiencing loosened muscles
- frustrated by stretch marks
When we do a tummy tuck, we 1. tighten the abdominal muscles, and 2. tighten the skin. Another pregnancy will do the opposite. Your muscles and skin will stretch to accommodate the pregnancy. Your internal stitches placed to tighten the muscles will likely loosen or rip. Your skin will stretch and if you are prone to stretch marks, you will likely form new ones.
STORYTIME:
I had a patient who had major weight loss, 100 pounds. She came to me for a tummy tuck. She also was 30-ish, and when I asked, she said she wanted children in the future. She was a great tummy tuck candidate—she had horrible stretch marks and hanging skin. But I told her to wait. Why? She is 30. She can’t wait too long to have kids, due to that darn fertility time clock. She formed bad stretch marks from her weight gain. People who form bad stretch marks tend to do it again. The stretch marks now are mostly on her lower belly, and I will remove them when I tummy tuck her. If I tuck her now and tighten the skin, when she gets pregnant she will form new stretch marks. These stretch marks will go where she stretches, which includes above the belly button. I most likely won’t be able to cut these out after her pregnancy.
IF she waits, she is “pre-stretched” for her pregnancy (from her prior 100 pounds of weight.) She will likely look just like she does now after the baby. I can then tuck her after the baby, and likely get rid of her stretch marks. It is also one less surgery.
It’s something doctors don’t talk about often, but being pregnant can be tough. Watching your flat belly stretch… and stretch…and stretch is hard to do. When you ”fixed” your belly with a tummy tuck and your new pregnancy and baby is now “ruining” it – that is not a good dynamic.
If life throws you a curve ball, then it happens. But if you are planning things out, think of your body for the long haul; consider what will be the best result 10 years down the road.
Editor’s note: The original version of this post was published on January 7, 2010.