Before & After

This 25 year-old patient had had an uncommonly severe stretching reaction of her tummy skin after having children and completing her family. She wanted to move on in terms of her body image, achieving better comfort in neat clothes and in swimwear. She hated taking her children to the swimming pool because of how self-conscious she was. Despite it being impossible to eradicate completely the highest stretch marks, she was keen to achieve a significant improvement so various forms of abdominal contouring surgery were considered. A comprehensive full abdominoplasty was undertaken to correct the tissue laxity that was not going to improve with exercise. The difference this surgery can make is obvious in these 1 year follow up photographs – she is longer constrained by swimwear and she can wear any clothes she wishes without worrying about how her tummy looks.

This 38 year-old lady had previously undergone breast augmentation under my care. After a positive experience from this surgery, she described how she was troubled by the large, indented and puckered scar on her abdominal wall. This was from an appendicectomy in childhood with subsequent wound infection and problematic healing. As a bikini enthusiast she hated this scar and sought surgery to correct it. Scars result from any injury to the skin (surgical, infective, traumatic or otherwise) and are permanent, inevitable and unpredictable. No non-surgical methods would have improved this scar significantly so by employing cosmetic techniques for reconstructive benefit, abdominoplasty surgery was proposed as a way to swap the puckered scar for standard fine abdominoplasty scars. With her slim body habitus this needed careful consideration but after careful counselling regarding swapping one scar for other more discreet scars, she proceeded with surgery. It was so wonderful to hear that she and her husband are delighted with the outcome – in her words “my husband thinks you are a magician!”

This 34 year old lady consulted me with dissatisfaction about her abdominal wall contour after pregnancies and caesarean section delivery. She had a pouch overhang above her scar that she absolutely could not get rid of now matter how much exercise and Pilates she undertook. Comprehensive abdominal wall contouring was undertaken by means of full abdominoplasty surgery. This entirely restored her confidence with regards to her physical well-being, particularly with relevance to clothing choices and swimwear.

This 50 year-old lady consulted me about the changes in her breasts after previous breast augmentation and about her tummy contour. From an abdominal perspective she aspired to wear bikinis without being self-conscious – but the muscle separation and the skin laxity following pregnancy could not be shifted no matter how much exercise she undertook. Above all she wanted to look natural. Abdominal wall reconstruction techniques with abdominoplasty corrected the muscle separation and re-established a beautiful natural waist without the need for liposuction.

“The result of the operation couldn’t have been better. I absolutely love my tummy now”… This 39 year-old lady’s primary concerns were the surface appearance of her tummy skin and the abdominal wall muscle weakness. The wrinkly appearance was due to marked skin laxity that had not recovered after having children and the weakness was due to rectus divarication where the six-pack muscles are separated and cannot fix themselves no matter how much physio and gym work is undertaken. Such situations require a comprehensive approach – no skin tightening device would correct this level of laxity, and without access to the muscle layer by proper dissection, the underlying weakness and contour could not be fixed. In this case liposuction was discussed but not undertaken – as in all cases a bespoke approach should select what elements of this surgery are required to give a certain outcome – and the patient must choose!

This 42 year-old lady’s primary concern was how she still looked pregnant over a year after completing her family. By performing a comprehensive abdominal hernia and divarication repair using a no-mesh technique a strong repair was possible giving her back the body she desired.

Having previously performed upper facial surgery for her some years before (upper and lower blepharoplasty, foreheadplasty and fat grafting), this 55 year-old lady’s primary concerns now were her droopy breasts and lax tummy. As someone who worked regularly with younger colleagues in the airline industry, she was increasingly self-conscious about the effect of ageing on her body. The torso improvements were delivered by full abdominoplasty surgery. She had a straightforward recovery and neat healing – spot the scar around the belly button if you can! The alteration in the position of her tattoos shows the change. Such lovely words from her #iwantgreatcare review!