Exercise or cosmetic surgery to get your flat belly back?

Maybe you had kids. Maybe you got old. Either way, there is something you are really not happy about in your tummy zone. When we see patients for abdominal laxity, or fat, or skin, we have a huge arsenal of new (and old) techniques that can help. Each patient may benefit from a different combination of treatments, some don’t even require surgery!

Level 1: The muscle zone.

Pregnancy stretches your abdominal wall out, leaving may patients with a rectus diastasis. How can you tell if you have one? Lie on your back, and so a small sit up, coming up only inches off the floor. Now feel your muscles. Are they together in the midline, or is there a gap? Did the abdominal wall get flat when you do a sit up, which is good, or did it actually stick up and out more? Does your belly look flat in the morning, but you just can’t “suck it in” by the end of the day or after a big meal? If so, you have a rectus diastasis. With exercise that focus on external obliques and core strength, you can close that gap by 3 to 5cm. We offer a combined exercise and binder regimen, called the Tuppler technique, with great results for the diastasis only patient. For patients with a greater gap, we offer a surgical rectus diastasis repair. This can be done through a C-section only type small incision, or can be combined with a tummy tuck if you have a lot of excess skin.

Level 2: The fat.

A little fat that you can’t lose on your own is perfect for Coolsculpting, a noninvasive technique that removes unwanted fat with no downtime. For patient with more than a handful of extra fat, we offer liposuction as well as laser-assisted liposuction, which can be done for up to 5 liters of fat removal. We have a lot of patient with excess fat and skin, which is perfect for a combination procedure of liposuction and skin removal. These results can be very dramatic, as they aim to completely transform your waistline and remove any and all overhanging skin.

Level 3: The skin.

Skin can be mildly excessive after kids, and we recently purchased the Venus Legacy, a radio frequency device that tightens excess skin without invasive surgery. If you have an actual overhang, it may require a mini-abdominoplasty (just skin on the lower abdomen only) or a full abdominoplasty (excess skin is on the lower and the upper abdomen).

For more information about these procedures or other treatments available at Cassileth Plastic Surgery call 310-278-8200 and schedule an appointment today with the best plastic surgeon Beverly Hills has to offer!