Answer: The purpose of the surgery is to remove a certain amount of skin and fat from the abdomen, certainly an amount of weight will be lost and this amount varies from patient to patient. But you must understand that this is not a surgery to loose weight but instead to enhance your body image by reshaping your waist , and removing the excess of skin and some fat. Therefore the best results will be achieved when your weight is the most near to your normal weight and the main problem is loose and striated skin.

Answer: The scar is designed as to be left hidden by the bathing suit you are used to wear. It is done just above the pubic hair and it will extend laterally towards the hips as long as it will be necessary in each individual case. The scar will evolve with time and it will evolve for 3 separate stages.

a) Immediate Stage : It will go from day one after surgery to the first 4 weeks after surgery. The scar will look okay and will not be very noticeable.

b) Middle Stage: It goes from the 4^th week to the first 12 months after surgery. The scar will be red, with some swelling, it will have a hard texture and will be very noticeable. This characteristics usually worries our patients a lot although you must not be excessively preoccupied ,because it is the natural evolution if the scars and they will usually show an important improvement with time.

c) Final Stage; it will last until the 18 months after surgery. The scar will turn pale and will take almost the same color of the surrounding skin and will turn almost unnoticeable. Anyhow , if the scar is going to be revised , this revision must be done only after the 18^th month after surgery and we can talk about mature scars.

Answer: After having cleared the point of the scar, after the surgery you will notice your abdomen as if the skin was anesthetized and may show some swelling that will subside with the passage of time. After the first 4 weeks and with a normal exercise , 18 months later you will see the final results.

Answer:  No , what happens is that your own navel will be transposed to a new place in your abdominal skin.

Answer: Almost always this will be corrected. But if you have an overweight , you will also have intrabdominal fat that will make the globular aspect persistent even after the operation.

Answer: This is the point that you will have to talk over with your surgeon so that before the surgery, the incision is designed in such a way so the you will be able to use the bathing suit you wish.

Answer: Yes you will be able to have children after this surgery, but you must know that during the pregnancy, your abdomen will experiment the same changes you presented during you previous pregnancies. Therefore we recommend that you have the babies you may want before the surgery.

Answer: No a normal abdominoplasty shouldn’t hurt a lot. And the discomfort will be treated by means of normal pain killers in any case.

Answer: The surgery will be done under general anesthesia.

The operation in itself will last 3 or 4 hours and you will stay in the clinic for the night. You will use a type of pressure girdle after the operation. Two(2) weeks after surgery you will be discharged an may be able to do a normal life except that you only may begin to do exercise after the first month after surgery. I encourage you as my patient that any doubts you may have before or after the operation be discussed openly with your surgeon.