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Original poster

Is it actually possible to have a tummy tuck on NHS?

65 replies

objectivity · 28/07/2008 12:36

It is 4,nearly 5 years since I gave birth and my stomach muscles are as good as they're ever going to be post-birth but I have a large amount of very stretch marked excess skin across my tummy. So much so that it looks like I am pregnant again if I eat. This is not helping me with the not starving myself attitude that I am trying to cultivate.

So, I wondered - is there anything that can be done NHS wise?Or is it just considered vanity?

OP posts:
morningpaper · 28/07/2008 14:18

orangehead I have had that conversation too

ME: My stomach blah blah
FRIENDS: Oh yes mine is like that
ME: Really? Is it like this?
FRIEND: OH MY GOD SHARON COME AND HAVE A LOOK AT THIS!

zippitippitoes · 28/07/2008 14:19

didnt you post a pic of yours once mp

Blandmum · 28/07/2008 14:20

LOL MP!

I have strech marks on my knees!

Kewcumber · 28/07/2008 14:32

pmsl MP

Oblomov · 28/07/2008 14:39

My friend has just had one. In June. On the NHS. 3 C Sections.

Oblomov · 28/07/2008 14:41

She waited nearly a year for it. But it was def done on the NHS, becasue we were all talking about it, including her, about how grateful she was.

nooka · 28/07/2008 14:58

It's one of those things that would have to go down the exceptional treatment route. For this you need to visit your GP and persuade them that the issue is causing you severe mental or physical problems. They then fill in a form setting this all out and send it to the local PCT, where a panel will consider the request, alongside many others and decide whether or not it should be funded. The NHS is not allowed blanket bans on any treatment for legal reasons, but there are a while list of things considered ineffective or unnecessary that can only be funded in exceptional circumstances via this route. As to whether you would be successful depends on how much money the PCT has and how good a case you have (and I am afraid the prejudices of the panel). I once (many moons ago) was part of a panel that rejected a request for an "apronectomy" for someone who had I think had seven pregnancies.

Reesie · 28/07/2008 15:15

My mum had an apronectomy on the NHS about 10 years ago. Her tummy was the strangest mangled site I have ever seen - all bunched up with flappy bits (the result of a botched c/s 30 years ago). She had a laparotomy scar which appeared to have been sutured too tightly and it looked all bunched up down middle. She's only tiny 7 1/2 stone so wasn't a weight issue. It got sore and weeping frequently in some of the bunched up areas. She didn't do anything for about 20 years and then showed her Gp who immediately suggested a tummy tuck and referred her on the NHS.

It's quite a big op - very painful and you have to wear a tight corset for weeks afterwards. Your belly button imo doesn't look that realistic and you will have huge scarring from one hip to the other. My mum is as hard as nails and even she said 'it wasn't a walk in the park' - which means terrible by her standards!!!

We all have flappy tummies. Someone told me a little thing years ago to be happy with my body so I regularly tell myself that I'm happy with my legs as they will work and walk and run me everywhere, my tummy is no longer flat but works perfectly - no colostomies, kidney disease, hepatitis etc etc etc. My boobs are on the large side and are definately getting floppier but they have worked brilliantly over the last year to BF my baby - complete work horses they were!!! Also no sign of cancerous cells or bumps inside. I'm a very luck girl

Kewcumber · 28/07/2008 15:17

if you have issues to do with your body and eating, removing the excess skin will not change how you feel and will not remove the stretch marks.

Oblomov · 28/07/2008 15:47

My friend had folds and folds of skin. It was, a tiny bit odd, I suppose. And covered in stretchmarks. She was unable to wear skirts at all, and other sorts of clothing.
Now she has had her tuck, her tummy is alot flatter. Not that flat to be honest. And totally stretchmarked still. but she is alot happier.
And that is the point.

Sidge · 28/07/2008 15:55

My friend lost 6.5 stone and had a hideous tummy - she literally couldn't tuck it in her knickers as there was so much spare skin. She was turned down for an apronectomy and then got a loan and had it done privately.

She now has a huge hip-to-hip scar, got a post-op wound infection and was in a lot of pain. But she has a fantastically flat tum!

FloriaTosca · 28/07/2008 16:15

Pal of mine got it done on the NHS but after 4 pgs and losing 6 stones it was a truly horrendous amount of excess skin (obvious through spanks and jeans)....but, as she had previously had surgery for gall stones they didnt want to damage her scar tissue so they pulled the skin up to her rib cage rather than down to her bikini line ... without clothes she looks like a serious crash victim,... but she has more confidence now as it wasnt done for her to look like a lingere model, just so she wasnt self concious in her clothes all the time.

Original poster
objectivity · 28/07/2008 20:47

It looks unlikely doesn't it?

I've had 7 pregnancies - resulting in 3 dc. No C sections but nevertheless I have overhang. Also had separation of abdominal muscle which is still a little gappy in places.

I'm only 5'2" so I think my middle felt the strain during pregnancy as there wasn't a lot of space and my bumps were huge and noticeable even from early pg.

self esteem will help, but I know mine won't be high enough to ignore what is genuinely quite a grim sight.

It may be different if I were still married to my dc's father but I'm effectively single so it is a little bit more of an issue for me I think.

OP posts:
12345678910 · 29/07/2008 08:01

we have a friend that was told by her doctor if she lost 2 stone they would do it on the nhs, there seems to be a lot of views on this and i am sorry but u r entitled to it, no one cares about the people that dont pay their taxes or have done somewhere in their past.

i am 27 and have an apron would i get a tummy tuck no but i would if i was older because i am not finished having my babies and i would first like to try all avenues of diet and evercise.

i have to laugh at kewcumber, ? how would removing the xcess skin not make her feel better to look down and be able to see your feet?

i say if ur that unhappy go c your doctor and get the ball rolling

good luck

ignore any neagtive comments

stitch · 29/07/2008 09:11

my tummy is so bad, that my sister, an nhs surgeon says that i would qualify for an nhs tummy tuck
in the same breathe, she says i should never ever consider having one. the health risks far outweigh any psychological benefits it may bring.

if that is her medical opinion, coupled with sisterly love. she knows how much i hate my sstomach, and how hard i have worked to get it to some sort of normalcy, then i will stick with that.

she did say that i should have a bmi of around 24 and that i should have maintained that for a while. as you cannot gain or lose lots of weight around the time you do have the operation

stitch · 29/07/2008 09:13

exactly kew!

barnsleybelle · 29/07/2008 09:26

I work for the NHS and have done for 20 years. I do not think it's already strapped resources should be spent on ANY unnecessary procedures. Whilst i sympathise greatly with anyone who has any negativity towards the way they look, it is not the job of the nhs to allieve these.
I also understand, that health is about physical, emotional and social well being, but procedures like the one here should be paid for direct by the client.
I see many people in my clinic who are in a great deal of physical pain and whose lives could be potentially at risk and they are placed on waiting lists which can be up to 6 months. Jamming the operating theatres with this type of surgery could essentially result in the other lists becoming longer.

rozzyraspberry · 29/07/2008 09:33

I know where you're coming from objectivity. I have 3 ds and although I do a lot of exercise I have the same stretch marked scarred stomach and loose skin. Maybe it is vanity but it does bother me. It affects other areas of my life too - I can't stand anyone touching my stomach - even my dh.

I don't expect a tummy tuck to be available on the nhs given the state it's in. But then why should it be available to people who've lost weight - that seems ridiculous - why is being overweight then losing weight any different to being pregnant?

Kewcumber · 29/07/2008 09:39

12345678910 - laugh all you like but with eating and self esteem problems myself, I can promise the OP that nothing will change if she has this done because her problem goes much deeper than this. If she had no other issues and this was the only thing she didn't like its possible that removing the excess skin would "cure" her. But it isn't and it won't.

Objectivity I suspect that you are pinning your hopes on this as some kind of magic cure and that all your other problems will become easier to deal with. But you're really doing it the wrong way round. Deal with your issues around how you look and how you feel about yourself first then consider how to improve the physical if its still important to you. Otherwise you will never deal with the extensive scarring (which several have mentioned), the possible lumpiness, the stretch marks which will remain - you will either end up being disatisfied with the result and start pursuing the possibility of corrective surgery or you will move to the next physical issue which allows you to distract yourself from the underlying problems.

Being single isn't a problem - do you think that people with physical issues don't fall in love and get married? Very fat people, excessively thin people, people with limbs missing, facial scarring etc all find love and settle down. More conventionally attractive people might get a quick shag more easily but in my experience they don't find love any more easily.

tiggerlovestobounce · 29/07/2008 09:41

When it is done on the NHS it is for the very worst cases, this is why it is called an "apronectomy" This isnt people who have a little bit of loose skin and some stretchmarks. People having it done on the NHS are the ones with a huge fold of skin hanging down (like an apron, hence apronectomy). In these cases the surgery is done to remove the fold, and usually leaves an enourmous hip to hip scar.
I have a flabby belly and stratchmarks too, but there is no way I would want to have that surgery done on the NHS, my problem isnt nearly bad enough to justify that as a solution!

barnsleybelle · 29/07/2008 09:47

The reason being overweight and treated on the nhs as opposed to having a tummy tuck, is that serious obesity can potentially be fatal, due to other factors such as cardiac issues.

I do not think it is the responsibility of the nhs to provide surgery that will simply aid self esteem. However, i do believe counselling should be available on the nhs for exceptional cases where emotional issues are having a detrimental effect on a persons life.

Guadalupe · 29/07/2008 10:02

My mum's home help had one on the nhs. She said she had six children and I couldn't belive how flat her stomach was but she'd had the surgery the year before aged 30. Apparently there was so much skin hanging down she could hide her cup of tea in it!

I do think of that sometimes, especially as mine is a disaster area. An appendicectomy, laperotomy, c-section, three pregnancies and a hysterectomy have left me a mess in the middle.

My hysterectomy was bloody painful, much worse than a section to recover from and I've heard a tummy tuck is worse so I'm not racing to have one. That was only three months ago though, maybe I'll feel differently in a few years.

rozzyraspberry · 29/07/2008 11:21

barnsleybelle - I do understand why overweight people are treated on the nhs in order to enable them to lose the weight for health reasons. I just don't understand why once they have lost the weight they are able to get a tummy tuck on the nhs when people who have the same problems after pregnancy aren't.

I agree that the nhs shouldn't fund operations to improve peoples self esteem.

moondog · 29/07/2008 11:54

It's obscene to expect one because you choose to have squillions of kids. I too work for the NHS and am sickened at how public money is wasted.

moondog · 29/07/2008 11:54

I've piadfor 2 private operations that the NHS would have funded. However I felt it unjustifiable to spend public money.

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