Abdominal flaws are especially distressing to patients. The advent of liposuction has transformed body contouring surgery. It allows the extent of the procedures as well as the residual scars to be reduced. To optimise the procedure, the flaws should be analysed, and in particular various parameters should be taken into account: the condition of the skin, extent of the excess adipose tissue, tone of the abdominal muscles, and overall morphology of the patient. In this way the surgeon will be able to apply the technique best suited, depending on the case to be treated. In fact, there is no universal technique; on the contrary, every case requires its own technique.
However, you should be aware that three procedures will be considered for surgical correction of the abdominal wall: abdominal liposuction (alone), abdominal contouring (abdominoplasty) or a body lift.
Isolated abdominal liposuction
This solution is indicated only in patients with excellent skin quality.
It can nonetheless be considered as a technique complementary to the two following techniques.
Abdominal contouring
When there are major skin lesions accompanied by significant distension, numerous stretch marks, or even scars, liposuction alone will not suffice and the surgeon will recommend an abdominoplasty. One or more pregnancies often distend the abdominal wall. The abdominal muscles slacken and separate from the medial line of the abdomen, causing a protuberance of the lower abdomen that liposuction or intensive abdominal exercise will not diminish.
Overweight, like weight fluctuation, distends the skin, which tends to striate and lose its elasticity, leaving an unattractive contour. In both of these cases, adominoplasty is fully indicated.
A patient choosing this procedure should be aware that body rejuvenation is in a way a trade-off between skin that is distended and striated and a flatter abdomen, more uniform skin and a scar, a compromise that the vast majority of patients readily accept.
It sometimes happens that the excess cutaneous fat is circular (it extends all around the body). In this case your surgeon may propose a body lift to guarantee you a higher-quality and more uniform result. This procedure resembles a simple abdominoplasty, except that tissue is excised in a circle and so leaves a circular scar. The advantage of such a method is undoubtedly the total rejuvenation of the abdominal area, with firming of the sides, buttocks, outer thighs and abdomen. The after-effects of a significant weight loss are thus eliminated by this type of procedure.
Of course, if the excess skin below the navel is minimal, a mini-abdominoplasty will suffice.
Inner thigh lift
When the skin of the inner thighs has slackened, liposuction alone cannot suffice, and this defect can only be remedied by tightening this skin; this is a crural lift or inner thigh lift.
The procedure aims to remove excess skin, reduce the underlying infiltration of fat, and provide comprehensive support for the skin.
Arm lift
The skin of the inner side of the arm is under great stress in movement and repeated weight loss, which explains why the number of skin ptoses (not correctable by liposuction alone) is greater than that of simple fatty hypertrophies.
The procedure thus aims to remove excess skin, reduce underlying fatty infiltration and re-drape the skin.
This problem does not justify coverage by health insurance, with the exception of the consequences of obesity (bariatric surgery), which can under certain conditions be covered by Health Insurance.