Fixing a Post-Pregnancy Tummy
Has your belly become severely deformed after having children? Additionally, have you heard that post-pregnancy tummy tuck surgery cannot fix the issues that you have? More specifically, has a doctor diagnosed you with a hernia in your abdominal muscles?
New Tummy Tuck Surgery is Available for You!
If you are a mom and your post-pregnancy tummy looks like a battleground or like there is an extraterrestrial growing out of it, there is now hope for you. Dr. Mowlavi has teamed up with a local Orange County general surgeon to tackle these seemingly unfixable post-pregnancy bellies. Following multiple pregnancies or during pregnancies associated with large weight gain or with bearing twins, a couple of things occur:
- The abdominal skin stretches out, creating unsightly stretch marks
- The underlying muscle and muscle lining (fascia) stretch out, causing muscle and fascial defects
This is medically known as a ventral hernia. A large hernia is termed a complex ventral hernia. Experts call multiple hernias Swiss cheese hernias.
Why Hernias Thwart Traditional Tummy Tuck Procedures
When any of these types of hernias are present, the conventional tummy tuck surgery alone is not adequate to correct the issue. This is because hernias thin out the muscle. Thus, direct stitching is not effective, since the suture material cuts through the thinned out muscle and fascial tissues. Although the routine tummy tuck does address the correction of small hernias by direct repair, larger defects are not amenable to this type of repair and will recur without further intervention.
The Tri-Modality Repair: A New Tummy Tuck
Instead, the definitive repair of complex or swiss cheese ventral hernias require a three-step maneuver, termed the Tri-modality repair. This is a three-pronged approach to tightening the abdomen.
- The abdominal muscles are released laterally, termed component separation; this allows us to repair the muscles and fascia centrally without any tension.
- Direct repair of the abdominal muscle fascia is possible without resulting in the tearing of the muscle fascia tissues.
- We use a biologic on-lay xenograft (surgical mesh) to reinforce the above repair.
Experts consider the Tri-modality repair the gold standard surgical treatment for correction of complex and/or swiss cheese ventral hernias and minimizing the risk of hernia recurrence. Best of all, this procedure is covered by insurance companies and thus offsets the traditional costs of having tummy tuck surgery. To see if you are a candidate for this surgery to correct your post-pregnancy tummy, contact us at (949) 558-3230 for a complimentary consultation with Orange County plastic surgeon Dr. Mowlavi.
SEE ALSO: Preventing a “muffin top” deformity post-pregnancy tummy tuck.