Combination Body Contouring Body contour surgery encompasses a family of procedures that seek to enhance and improve shape and form. The most common subgroups of body contour procedures include liposuction, tummy tuck, and breast enhancement. Liposuction is used to improve contour and form of the thighs, flanks, and abdominal wall. Tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty, is used to improve the contour and form of the abdominal wall by a direct tightening of the deep abdominal wall in conjunction with some degree of removal of fat and skin. Skin incision length will be planned depending upon the amount of skin redundancy present prior to the procedure. Breast enhancement includes breast augmentation or enlargement, breast lift, and breast reduction. Breast augmentation or breast augmentation with lift can most often be performed using hidden or minimal incision approaches.
Many of these types of procedures are performed in combination, as patients will frequently seek to address more than one area. The most common situation of this type arises following pregnancies where there has been some stretching and relaxation of the deep abdominal wall and surrounding skin with resultant loss of appealing shape and form. Similar effects can be seen with breast tissue that may have stretched and relaxed in response to pregnancy or breast feeding. Depending upon the extent of skin laxity present, minimal incision approaches are sometimes possible for tummy tuck. Most patients have skin laxity too great for minimal incision tummy tuck, so that the emphasis shifts to careful planning of the orientation of the incision. This allows for the incision to be camouflaged by the patient’s preferred swimsuit or underwear style. Depending upon a given patient’s situation, additional refinements may be requested in the form of liposuction to the flanks or thighs. Breast enhancement, that may include breast augmentation, lift, or reduction, is also commonly performed at the time of tummy tuck.
Case Study 1
This patient is a 36 year old woman who requested correction of severe abdominal wall laxity that progressively worsened in severity following several pregnancies. She reported that she regularly worked out but could see no improvement to the contour of the area. She also requested breast enhancement at the time of her tummy tuck procedure. Following a thorough evaluation and discussion of treatment options, she underwent a tummy tuck procedure with the incision length determined by the severe amount of laxity present, oriented to be hidden by her preferred style of underwear and swimsuits. She also underwent endoscopic breast augmentation using a one-inch armpit incision with high profile saline implants placed beneath the pectoral muscle.