Procedure
What is a Combined Breast & Abdomen Procedure?
A Combined breast & Abdomen Procedure refers to a combination of surgical procedures designed to restore the appearance of the breasts and the tummy after pregnancy.
Some women are fortunate, and come through pregnancy with little change to their breasts or abdomen. However, it is not uncommon (especially after multiple pregnancies) for the breasts to lose volume and sag and for the abdominal skin and muscles to become stretched and loose. A Combined Breast & Abdomen Procedure addresses these two areas (the breasts and the tummy) at the one procedure. Hips and thighs become more prominent after pregnancy and these areas are often reduced to improve overall body contour.
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Your Breasts - What Can Be Done?
This will depend on whether the breasts have just lost volume or whether they have also sagged. Volume loss may be replenished by transferring some of your own fat (do you have a little excess fat in your tummy or hips?) to your breasts. This technique is known as Autologous Fat Transfer and it is especially useful for improving the cleavage and the emptiness in the upper part of the breasts. A fat transfer will also lift the breasts slightly, so often it is the procedure of choice even if there has been a little sagging of the breast skin.
A breast lift is required if there is significant sagging of the breast skin. One way to assess this is to look at the position of the nipple. If it is pointing downwards, if it is situated below the crease under the breast, or if there is no breast skin visible beneath the areola, then a breast lift is a way to enhance the appearance and fullness of your breasts. A breast lift will not only lift your nipples, but also redistribute your breast volume so that you have more breast fullness and projection.
A combination of breast lift and fat transfer is often the best way to restore the breasts as the fat can be placed selectively in the cleavage area and the upper pole in order to enhance these areas even more than by a lift alone.
A breast lift with fat transfer can be a more effective way to enhance the breasts than combining a breast lift with implants. Many women prefer using their own fat because it is a natural way to enhance their breasts and also because removing some fat from their hips or thighs provides a welcome improvement to their overall shape.
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Your Abdomen - What Can Be Done?
Sometimes, all that is needed for the abdomen is to do liposuction. This will flatten the tummy and provide some fat for transfer to the breasts.
Sometimes, however, there can be visible skin stretching and excess skin. This may be especially noticeable in the sitting position where a small apron forms in the lower abdomen. In these cases, an abdominoplasty or ‘tummy tuck’ operation is an effective way to remove this excess tissue. In an abdominoplasty, the skin between the belly button and the pubic hairline is removed and the skin from the upper abdomen pulled down tight to reconstruct the abdominal wall. During this procedure the abdominal muscles are often found to have been split widely apart due to pregnancy and so these muscles are repaired by bringing them together in the midline. This has the effect of improving your waistline.
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Your Hips And Thighs - What Can Be Done?
Contouring of the hips and thighs is done by liposuction. The fat removed is a valuable source of living tissue that can be grafted into your breasts to increase their volume in the most natural way.
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What Is The Downtime Following A Combined Breast & Abdomen Procedure?
Depending on what is done, the surgery itself takes between 2 and 3 hours. Patients stay in the hospital overnight but are usually still be able to get out of bed and walk around on the afternoon of surgery.
The speed of your recovery will then depend on whether or not you have had a muscle tightening procedure to your abdomen. Those patients that don’t require muscle tightening are usually able to do light housework and start driving within a few days of their surgery. If, however, an extensive muscle repair has been performed, then it is recommended to rest for the first week to allow these muscles to heal.