Tummy Tuck... Abdominoplasty...... Your opinions please!

[MUM23ASD]

How much?

Where?

My friend had it done in our local Bupa hospital. Cost her £5500. She took a while to recover but is over the moon with the results.

according to the sunday papers
cyprus
great infrastructure excellent hospitals v cheap
sunny

would have to be UK... I am too scared to go abroad incase there are probs!!!

I want to lose aprox 4 stone in the next year- only a pound a week- so very achievable- to go from 180 to 130 pounds.... i'm 5'2"....but know from when i got down to 150 before- i had an awful hanging tummy then...

Family want to help me finance it as they know how much this has affected me psychologically-

if i could i would.

If I had the money I would. Have lost all my baby weight but still have tummy that no amount of exercise will shift.

Does any one know how long (approx) the recovery time is?

I desperately need one and if I can't get it on the NHS then I'm thinking about either Brazil or Argentina

Hadn't heard about Cyprus tho so will definitely check that out.

I know a lot of people go to a Dr Dedoncker in Belgium and his prices are pretty good.. I think i have the link to his site on other pc so i'll check and post it tomorrow if you like

does anyone know of good 'before and after' pictures...genuine ones....

How about THESE

Sorry that didn't work! How about THESE

I had one last year and wish I'd done it years ago! I'll put a couple of my after photos on my profile for a day or so. Don't want to put before pics on though but believe me when I tell you that my tummy was a real mess.

bloody hell amandoh you look amazing!!

here's his site

apprently £2900 for a TT and he'll do muscle repair if needed included in that price. I've read posts from a lot of his very very satisfied patients so it seems he's a good one

that is tempting....thanks akhems

Wow Amandoh!

I'd have one done in a flash if I could afford it. 2 largeish babies and 2 CS in less than 2 years plus gravity hath not been kind. I'd have a boob lift too.

I would also get my bingo wings snipped.

SheikYerbouti ~ That's exactly what I did! I was so pleased with my tummy that I went back and had a breast reduction and the tops of my arms done. It all sounds very vain but I really hated my body and was becoming increasingly depressed. I've had three children and I also lost five and a half stone in under a year. I thought losing the weight would make me feel better and it did to a degree but then I was left with loose skin that couldn't be exercised away so surgery was my only option.

Obviously I'm left with scarring but you can't see scars under clothes but you can see loose skin. The scars on my tummy and breasts barely show now and the scars on my arms are fading.

Amandoh, you look amazing. How long would you say it took to recover from a tummy tuck. I might wait until DS2 starts school.

I recovered very quickly. Infact the physio in the hospital had to ask me to slow down.

You mustn't lift anything for a few weeks and if I remember correctly you musn't drive for two or three weeks. I was up and about pretty much straight away though. DP went back to work within three weeks of me having op and I coped perfectly well with DS3 who would have been about 18months old.

I'd watched lots of the surgery programmes on the Discovery Home and Health channel. I was a bit worried pre surgery after watching lots of American women screaming in agony every time they moved but it wasn't like that at all! I didn't have any pain and as soon as I started to feel a bit uncomfortable I was given more painkillers. You're more likely to get moving if you're pain free so that aids recovery.

Thanks for your reply Amandoh. I have saved up half the cost and I think in two years I should be able to pay for the Op.

I look nice fully clothed but feel revolted by what lurks beneath. I think having surgery will just make me feel so much better about myself. I am 35 but somehow, along the way, I seem to have aquired the tummy of an 80 year old.

Amando...five and a half stone!!!! WOW!

Did you have lots of stretch marks?

I resemble a watermelon!!!

However, I am not looking to deliberately lose my stretch marks....i am not ashamed of them.
some are wide and thin skinned and get sore- but if i had a flat tum and still a watermelon pattern...i'd be happy....i don't care what i look like naked....its what i FEEL like when i touch it...or how i look walking down the street that bothers me.

however, i see on alot of these photos of tummy tucks...that many of the stretch marks are cut away.....so as a 'side effect' that would be great!!!

Can you remember what weight of tummy they removed???

Its exciting to think that i could lose the 50 pounds i plan to lose- and then even another 10 when they cut of the part that doesn't belong..... the size i'd be if i lost 50 ponds is approx size 12 (i am 5'2) ....as when i was size 14 i was aprox 10 pounds heavier....

so i even feel that i could aim for the SIZE 14 point- ie lose 40 pounds- then have the op- to reduce to a size 12 by surgery....as if i dieted to a size 12.... to be surgically reduced to a size 10 seems too small for me!!!! (I was last a size 10 over 20 years ago!!!)

Mum23asd ~ I still have strechmarks but less than before. The surgeon said he cut off about 5lbs of skin. I was about 8st 10lbs (I'm 5'4" tall) when I went in for the op but over 9st when I got home despite having 5lbs chopped off! It was just fluid retention though but it can take up to six months for the fluid to drain away completely. Lots of people have lymphatic massage to get their lymphatic (drainage) system working properly again.

This op is not a quick weight loss miracle though and ideally surgeons like you to get to your goal weight or thereabouts before having it. In your position I'd lose the 50lbs beforehand. Don't forget that after the op you'll be recovering for a few weeks and won't be able to exercise for a while so it's more than likely you'll regain some of the weight you've lost.

Before the op I was a size 10-12 and am still a size 10-12. It has made no real difference to my clothes size as it was just skin and it laid flat under trousers. The problem was that it was visible. It looked like it was "smiling" at the top of my legs! The breast reduction has made the biggest difference. I was a 34DD-E and am now a 34D which means that I can get size 12 tops buttoned up now!

I'm only a B cup now!!! My bust is 38- my 'so called waist' is 44 - my tummy 44 and my hips 42

i identify with THIS PICTURE from the website linked to above.

Thats if i hold it in a bit...if i slouch and relax- it looks like i am heavily pregnant. Its soul destroying when you hold in your tummy as hard as you can- but there's no strength there- so it hardly makes any difference. Then you do weeks and weeks of 'stomach crunches' and still no difference. I think i gave up trying when ds3 was 18months- up to then i really thought i could make a difference.

I had physio after ds3- tummy muscles split- had to wear a support for last 2 months of pregnancy- and after for several months. Even now, 9 years on, I still occasionally get out of bed awkward- and feel my pelvis crunch- or muscles twinge. I cannot push a heavy item- like a box or cupboard (as i could pre ds3)- even a toddler on a chair- i cannot push the chair under the table- unless i cross my legs over and pull in my pelvis tightly- if i try not doing it this way- i feel discomfort.

Mum23asd ~ Have you been to your GP about the problems you're still suffering from? Also, do you have a surgeon in mind? Your GP will be able to advise you on good local surgeons. If you're in the South East then can I recommend Mr Brent Tanner. He performed all of my surgeries. He and his team are brilliant.

i'm in wiltshire!

It's funny really...when i read what i've typed now- even I wonder why i have not told my GP.

reading what you have said has made me really think about this.

Compared to how your body was, do you now find you can see something to wear that you like...and find the right size...and just wear it?

I ask this cos when i buy anything so much is going on in my head about what length...how wide etc....and i can remember 20 years ago (!!!!) just loving an item of clothing... and wearing it....now i feel so trapped.

Most clothes is so uncomfortable....at 20 i laughed at people wearing 'elasticated back' jeans.... now i understand WHY they exist....you need a huge front of jeans to go round tummy- and the elastic to stop them falling down. How do i know? Cos i wear them!!!

D'you know what triggered all this?

3 weeks ago...i went in the oxfam shop and i found a brand new (tagged) pair of knee high boots- leather- lined with leather too... M&S ....ones i saw last year in m&s for £80...and in the oxfam shop they were only £15. So i tried them on...and they fitted perfect.
However...at home ...i then tried to zip them up...and discovered my calves were too fat.

so there began a long hard look in the mirror....i hated everything. But i love the boots!!!!!

so since then have lost 3.5 pounds....

I know the boots are nothing to do with my tummy...but my tummy is what stops me going out...which traps me in my home...and i think in the past year i have only driven 500 miles.....i have really stopped going anywhere.

so...the boots triggered it all!!!

Then luckily DH saw the C4 embaressing teeage bodies programme- where a 19yr old had a tummy tuck...and the next day he said that if i lost the weight that I WANT TO LOSE (to fit into my boots!)...then next year i CAN have the OP!!!

Thanks so much for replying to all i've said...i do waffle on!

Amandoh, approximately how much did you pay for the tummy tuck? Did you have the full job or a mini-abdominoplasty?

TheRealMrsJohnSmith ~ I paid a little under £10,000 for my tummy op and definitely had the full job!

If you look at my after photo you can't see the scar that goes around my stomach as it's hidden under my knickers but it goes from hip to hip. There's also a scar down my middle. It starts from just under my ribs and carries on down so my scarring looks almost like an anchor shape.

I needed the cut down my middle as there was a quite a bit of excess skin but it has the added advantage of giving you a really defined waistline.

Are you thinking of having a tummy tuck too?