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Beverly Hills Tummy Tuck Minimal Scarring

Written By: Stuart A. Linder, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Beverly Hills, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Linder performs tummy tucks or abdominoplasty procedures every single week in his surgery center in Beverly Hills. We enjoy performing abdominoplasty procedures because this allows patients to develop a flatter abdominal wall with removing skin and fat, tightening the internal muscles and often concurrently liposuctioning the hips. Minimal scarring associated with tummy tucks may be possible when the skin along the iliac crest roll or hip areas is not significant. However, when a woman has a significantly large abdominal pannus, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to limit the scarring along the hips. I have found in my practice as well as discussions as Board Certified Plastic Surgeons, that patients on the other hand would rather have little bit longer scars on the hips than to leave dog ears on the sides of the hips. A dog ear is simply skin that wraps over and is redundant and can be removed on a secondary revision surgery or can be simply taken on the primary surgery if the scars are extended further along the hip areas.

Minimal scar tummy tucks can also be performed as mini tummy tucks. Patients who have had previous cesarian sections can have their scars minimally extended bilaterally with skin removed and the dog ears can be worked centrally so as to reduce the scarring bilaterally. Regardless of how an abdominoplasty procedure is performed, when skin is removed a scar will be evident. Remember that the final predictability in nature of the scar can never be guaranteed. Scarring can be associated with hypertrophic scarring, keloiding (where scars and collagen overgrows the boundary of the scar itself) or it can be associated with widening of the scars, especially when there is tension along the incision site. Scarring can also be associated with color changes, including hypo and/or hyperpigmentation of the scars. The darker the melanin content of the patient, for example, Latina, or Asian or Korean patients, may develop increased hyperpigmentation. Scarring can never be one hundred percent predictable, but can be reduced by using proper healing measures postoperatively, avoiding aggressive exercise early on, which can increase wide spreading of the scars as well as ointments, including Kelo-cote or silicone gel creams or sprays, Vitamin E, or Mederma.

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Stuart. A. Linder, M.D., F.A.C.S. is a Beverly Hills plastic and reconstructive surgeon specializing in breast augmentation, liposuction, tummy tuck, and more.

Dr. Linder is certified by the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and is a diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS).

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