What Causes Extra Skin Around the Tummy?
By David Reid | Published on November 30, 2009 | 0 Comments
Dr. David Reid is a plastic surgeon at New Dimensions Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery in Belleville, Illinois. A member of the American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Dr. Reid has been in private practice since 1995. In this article, Dr. Reid explains what causes many women to have extra skin around their stomach area.
Although we can remove it quite easily now, no one has been able to fully determine what actually causes the skin around the tummy area to droop in some women but not others.
It is really common that a woman may have had a baby, and afterward the skin around her stomach is no longer taut—it droops a bit. But then other women carry one or more pregnancies, and afterward, their abdomen and belly skin look completely fine. So far, nobody has been able to really tell for sure why this difference persists for women who may otherwise have similar body types.
What we do know is that patients who bounce back — figuratively speaking — from a pregnancy tend to have more elasticity in their skin than the women who come into a plastic surgeon’s office looking for a tummy tuck. But there is little, besides cosmetic surgery, that a woman can do to impact how elastic her skin may naturally be.
In other words, some patients carry a pregnancy, and afterward their abdomen and belly skin look fine. Meanwhile, other patients’ weight goes back to normal after giving birth, but there skin still droops and has stretch marks. So those women in the second group obviously have a lower degree of elasticity, or what we call a skin turgor, than other female patients.
Of course, few people have perfect skin elasticity and many women who could benefit from a tummy tuck to get rid of the drooping in their stomach, even if it is only a minor issue.
When we do a procedure to fix this in the lower belly area, it is called a tummy tuck, also known as abdominoplasty. We often use this treatment method for patients who have dieted and exercised and still are not able to lose the stubborn skin and fat in their abdominal area. And, like I said, women who have had multiple pregnancies are often considered good candidates for this, too.
For those who may not know, a tummy tuck or abdominoplasty procedure involves making an incision from a patient’s hip to hip, separating that patient’s skin from her abdominal wall, bringing the abdominal muscles closer together, affixing them in place, and then stretching the skin back down over the stomach area.
Another treatment method we use to help people with saggy skin is called a body lift. Essentially it is a surgical treatment that uses the same techniques as a tummy tuck—with the only difference being that the surgery is on the back half of the body instead of the front. With this procedure, we can really just lift up the skin that might be hanging there, especially after a person has lost a lot of weight. A lot of women are increasingly undergoing this treatment, often with fantastic results.
In the last few years alone, body lifts have really risen in popularity due to the bariatric surgery that so many Americans are undergoing. Some physicians use the term body lift to talk about lifting both the front and back halves of the body when they are working on a patient who may have already undergone bariatric surgery. But when I discuss this treatment option with patients, I am usually talking about just lifting the skin on their back side (the area directly above the rear).
Finally, I have noticed in my years of practice that saggy, droopy skin can also spur women to ask for a face lift. Obviously, a face lift won’t impact the saggy skin around a patient’s stomach area. Nonetheless that initial saggy skin can be what encourages a woman to look at tightening up the skin elsewhere on her body, as well.
No matter what treatment option a woman chooses, it is important that women know they have options. Many things can be done to get rid of the droopy skin that bothers so many people, and women should not have to suffer with any saggy skin that bothers them.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
Tags: extra skin, tummy
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*Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.