Featuring Dr. Nancy Van Laeken, MD, FRCSC

Duration: 1 minute, 31 seconds

An abdominoplasty is a tummy tuck. That is what patients come to see you about when they have excess skin and lose muscles to their abdominal area.

The patients that are most common that I see for a tummy tuck operation are young mothers who have had a couple of children, and are fit and healthy and are dissatisfied with their appearance of their abdomen after they have had kids.

They are usually not planning any more children because I would not do a tummy tuck on somebody who is planning to get pregnant again. It is very affective in allowing them to wear the clothing that they are interested in wearing again and being ready for the bikini.

The procedure takes about an hour and a half to two hours. It is usually done under general anesthetic. There is a lengthy incision along the lower abdomen so the patients do need to be made aware of that and usually they are shown pictures of the scar so they can visualize it.

The recovery is about two weeks until patients are doing their regular normal activities again. It is about one month before they can return to yoga, Pilates, swimming and training for marathons.

There is a drainage tube that is placed in the incision when the patient is discharged from the clinic so that is also something they need to be educated about prior to discharge which helps them prepare for their recovery.

What I usually tell my patients particular the young moms, is they have to make sure they have help at home for a few days because they will not be doing all the mother things immediately post abdominoplasty.

Presenter: Dr. Nancy Van Laeken, Plastic Surgeon, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Plastic Surgeon