Ugly Abdominal scars Removed with Tummy Tuck in Raleigh, NC*

This 50-year-old woman had prior emergency surgery on her abdomen in the past and had a tethered noticeable scar as a result. She did have some loose skin present but was otherwise physically fit and wanted improvements. Correction of the deformity was achieved with a tummy tuck and complete removal of her scar. Prior abdominal surgeries with resulting scars can create challenges with abdominoplasty. The more recent use of purely laparoscopic procedures with very small incisions has less impact on abdominoplasty planning. The old fashion cholecystectomy for gallbladder scar, which was common before the 1990s, was a long incision located in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen. The problem with this incision location is that the previous incision reduces blood flow to the lower abdominal skin closure of an abdominoplasty. Proper healing of an abdominoplasty requires adequate blood flow and elevating the abdominal skin off the abdominal wall necessarily involves cutting off of a lot of normal blood supply so blood flow to the central abdominal closure has to come from areas lateral to the midline. With large transverse incision of the upper abdomen significant wound healing problems can occur. Anyone with previous abdominal scarring must realize that this can affect the ability to perform abdominoplasty safely. Fortunately, scars below the bellybutton-such as C-section, hysterectomy and appendectomy scars usually have little impact and can completely removed.