As recently reported on The Doctors, over two-thirds of Americans are obese. While diet and exercise may help them lose the weight necessary to become candidates for the traditional tummy tuck, there is now a new option available for those who are slightly too overweight for a traditional tummy tuck. The Smooth Tuck? combines high-volume liposuction with a procedure similar to a tummy tuck that removes excess skin and contours the body.
Actual Smooth Tuck? Results of Dr. Matthew Schulman
A traditional tummy tuck requires a wide incision (which is cut low so it can be hidden behind underwear) and excess skin is removed and abdomen muscles are stitched together to tighten the previous spreading of the muscle. After the full abdominoplasty, the belly button is repositioned.
The Smooth Tuck, developed by board-certified New York plastic surgeon Dr. Matthew Schulman, is for patients that are not quite candidates for the tummy tuck because of the excess weight they may be carrying. "With the Smooth Tuck, we're able to remove the fat and provide patients who are considered 'too obese' for a tummy tuck with the improved contours they desire," describes Dr. Schulman.
The first step in the Smooth Tuck is high volume liposuction, in some cases, up to 2-3 liters of fat may be removed. After which, a smaller incision, compared to the traditional tummy tuck, is used to remove excess skin. There is no muscle repair in the Smooth Tuck, which translates to less patient downtime.
Patients that undergo the Smooth Tuck procedure are typically able to return to work in 7 days and resume normal activities in 14 days. With a tummy tuck, patients could expect to spend 2 weeks off of work and it could take 6-8 weeks before they could resume normal physical activity.
Dr. Schulman says, "A traditional tummy tuck is a skin and muscles operation, the Smooth Tuck is more about the fat." The ideal patient for the SmoothTuck is a patient that is just a bit overweight for the tummy tuck procedure.
