Will the tummy tuck help me lose weight?
Some people find it difficult to tell the difference between weight loss surgery and plastic surgery. Bariatric surgery is used to help the patient lose weight, and there are plenty of procedures that can be performed for this purpose. Among these procedures are the gastric sleeve, gastric band, and so on. These procedures are meant and performed with the purpose of helping the patient lose weight. In most cases, the procedure is performed on the stomach and aims to reduce the amount of food that can be eaten by the patient at a certain time, hence triggering weight loss. Bariatric surgery is recommended for people who are severely overweight or obese, and weight loss is often recommended for improving the health condition of the patient more than for the aesthetic benefits.
On the other hand, plastic surgery is mostly performed for the aesthetic benefits that it brings. However, plastic surgery can’t help the patient lose weight, despite the fact that it can make the body look slimmer.
After the tummy tuck, the patient will notice that the abdomen is flat and firm with a youthful appearance. The unaesthetic excess of skin and fat tissues are removed, so the skin on the tummy is smooth and firm. When liposuction is associated with the tummy tuck, the results of the procedure are even more accentuated. Aside from a flat and firm tummy, the patient can also enjoy a reduction in the adipose layer on the abdomen and the flanks. This means that the circumference of the abdomen is reduced and the waist becomes smaller.
For an untrained eye, the results of the tummy tuck, especially when associated with liposuction, might look like the patient has lost weight. But in reality, it is not weight loss but just a redefinition of the body’s features and shape. With liposuction, we can eliminate adipose deposits that could make the body’s shape unpleasant, and with the tummy tuck, we remove the excess skin that is saggy on the tummy. The plastic surgeon might eliminate a considerable amount of skin and fat tissue during the procedure; however, this will not make a significant difference in the weight of the patient. Moreover, a responsible and experienced plastic surgeon will not perform the tummy tuck or liposuction on patients who are obese or overweight as the results of the procedure might not be satisfactory. Generally speaking, the results achieved with plastic surgery are better put in value if the patient has a normal weight or is close to his ideal weight.
The tummy tuck only addresses the saggy skin located on the lower part of the tummy. The plastic surgeon can’t minimize the size of the abdominal cavity or do anything about the fat that is inside this cavity. With the tummy tuck, it is only the exterior structures of the abdominal wall that are targeted: the muscles, skin, and subcutaneous fat tissue.
