Abdominoplasty has become the most popular surgery at Clínica Martínez. She performs a very unique abdominoplasty, employing high-definition techniques to tighten the rectus abdominis muscles while removing the excess skin. Another particular feature of Dr. Martinez’s tummy tuck is the absence of the scar around the navel. The results are impressive.
A woman’s abdomen grows as she becomes a mother, and the abdominal wall also stretches and does not return to its original shape, texture, or tension after giving birth. This can result in striated, lax and redundant skin, as well as separation of rectus abdominis muscles and even umbilical hernias or adnexal hernias.
As well, when a person gains and loses weight considerably, the skin of the abdomen undergoes changes very similar to those during pregnancy, leaving it lax, with stretch marks, and redundant.
Abdominal wall alterations of this type should be analyzed at the medical consultation. An in-depth examination of the abdominal wall is conducted during the consultation by Dr. Martinez so he can determine if the patient is a good candidate for an abdominoplasty surgery instead of a liposculpture procedure.
During an abdominoplasty, we also perform liposculpture at the same time. Back and flanks are the most commonly aspirated areas. Unlike liposculpture, during an abdominoplasty anterior abdomen is NOT aspirated. This way, the upper abdominal irrigation coming from the intercostals is preserved. After the skin below the navel has been resected, this ensures that the abdominal skin remains intact. In some cases, it is advisable to first perform only a liposculpture and then, after 6 months, to perform the abdominoplasty or vice versa.
The scar of a tummy tuck will never be the same as that of a cesarean section, neither in size nor in location. The patient should be evaluated in the office to determine the location of the tummy tuck scar. The patient is usually asked to bring underwear on the day of surgery to trace the scar within the limits of the swimsuit.
The patient leaves the operating room with a negative suction drainage system and a girdle. He must rest between one and two weeks. The return to greater activity, gym, extensive walks will begin after a month. All sutures used are internal and absorbable.
Over 9 years Dr. Martinez performed the traditional abdominoplasty technique leaving the navel attached to the abdominal wall. This means that when the skin was stretched above the navel to close the abdominoplasty, an incision had to be made to pull out the navel through it and then sew it to the upper skin.
Unfortunately, this technique leaves a circular scar around the navel skin and therefore in many cases we observed keloids with a poor aesthetic appearance, skin pigmentation changes in the navel and even a total closure of the orifice leading to a bad odor, as well as the impossibility to perform an adequate cleaning.
As of February 2019, the new navel technique began to be developed by Dr. Martinez, which was the only one of its kind in Peru, and since then the navels after abdominoplasty have been 100% natural without peripheral scarring, bad odor or an unaesthetic look.
The navel is a residual scar from what the umbilical cord was during the intrauterine period. It has no function in the human body other than aesthetic.
Dr. Dr. Martinez is not only concerned about performing a good procedure for her patients, but also about always looking for better and better results. In a tummy tuck, the navel is the surgeon’s signature.
