Like all structures on the body, things change with age, gravity, and the general wear and tear of life. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the female abdomen. Puberty, pregnancy, and weight change all play potential havoc with the smooth flat abdomen that most women have in youth. Pregnancy is the biggest culprit here, stretching the skin through expansion and contraction and leaving scars from c-sections.
The c-section scar itself may lay flat as it shrinks and heals but the overlying skin excess and loose skin often falls over this scar, resulting in an unsightly bulge of the lower abdomen. Often stretch marks extend upward from the scar and around the bellybutton as well. Unfortunately, no amount of dieting and exercise will shrink this skin excess and many women can attest to that observation.
Abdominoplasty, otherwise known as a tummy tuck, will get rid of this problem but a traditional or full tummy tuck may be a bigger procedure than many women desire to undergo. The length of a full tummy tuck scar (hip to hip) may be excessive given the amount of lower skin excess. In addition, a full tummy tuck requires the belly button to be repositioned at the skin level resulting in a scar around it. Despite my best efforts at making belly button scars, I find most of them to be somewhat visible and not completely normal in appearance.
An alternative approach is a more limited version of an abdominoplasty, known as a mini-tummy tuck or for a better visual understanding, a Bikini Line Tummy Tuck. With this approach, the length of the resulting scar is shorter but, more importantly, it stays very low. (hence the name Bikini Line) It stays low because the amount of skin removed is less and the cut out is below the belly button level. This allows the initial incision of the cut out to be put as low as possible and does not place a lot of tension on the final skin closure which can cause it to be pulled up higher. (as occurs in a full tummy tuck) In addition, no scar results around the belly button since as it is repositioned lower from underneath the skin before the final skin closure.
While not every woman who has overhanging skin and fat on their abomen is a candidate for the Bikini Line Tummy Tuck, about half of the women that I see are. Women that are close to a good body weight with a small amount of lower abdominal skin excess, with or without a c-section scar, are ideal candidates. A flat abdomen, a normal-appearing belly button, and a resulting scar that will fit inside one’s swimsuit is what the Bikini Line Tummy Tuck can achieve.
Dr Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana