Tummy Tuck & Abdominoplasty in Orange County & Newport Beach
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Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ focuses on providing prospective patients rejuvenation of their abdominal contour while not compromising a natural look. Dr. Mowlavi has innovated a unique technique of creating belly buttons during tummy tuck surgery, “using a distally based dermal flap”, that results in a naturally appearing belly button. Additionally, Dr. Mowlavi has patented the use of the, “Mowlavi Umbilicator”, which allows for the optimum placement of your new belly button. Creation of a naturally appearing “innie” belly button allows our Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ patients to show off their youthful tummies while wearing two piece swimming suits without being embarrassed by exposure of an operated looking belly button. We encourage you to view Dr. Mowlavi’s before and after Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ results so you can appreciate your potential.
Dr. Arian Mowlavi is a Board Certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon who has dedicated his practice to providing prospective tummy tuck patients the tummy they desire yet avoid the operated look. Tummy Tuck Natrelle ™ is dedicated to restoring abdominal contour in a natural appearing manner.
Dr. Mowlavi is Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, as well as Member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and Orange County Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Mowlavi has published over 50 nationally recognized scientific articles, received several nationally distinguished awards in the field of plastic surgery, and been featured in the Orange Coast Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, The Washington Post, and Self Magazine to name a few.
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Procedure: Improvement in abdominal contour by release of abdominal skin and underlying fat, tightening of abdominal muscles, followed by redraping and trimming of all redundant skin, and finally by recreating the belly button and repairing the skin edges.
Length: 3 to 5 hours of operative time.
Anesthesia: General anesthesia may be supplemented with epidural anesthesia.
Place of Treatment: Outpatient surgical suite or hospital operating room.
Recovery: The recovery period for tummy tuck surgeries can be as quick as 1 week following a mini tummy tuck procedure, and as long as 4 weeks following a standard tummy tuck surgery with muscle plication.
Duration of Results: As long as patients watch their diet and keep an active lifestyle, they can enjoy a lifetime of an aesthetically pleasing abdominal contour and body silhouette.
- What is the history of tummy tuck surgery?
- Do I have to take 1 month off of work to have a tummy tuck surgery?
- If I have had abdominal surgery can I be considered for a tummy tuck surgery?
- Will I have any numbness following tummy tuck surgery?
- Will my silhouette be improved following tummy tuck surgery?
- Where and how wide will my abdominal incision scar be following tummy tuck surgery?
- Am I a good candidate for tummy tuck surgery?
- What does tummy tuck surgery involve?
- How do I plan my tummy tuck surgery?
- How do I prepare for tummy tuck surgery?
- What results can I expect after tummy tuck surgery?
- Where will my tummy tuck surgery be performed?
- What type of anesthesia will be used for my tummy tuck surgery?
- What should I expect after tummy tuck surgery?
- When will I be able to return to work following tummy tuck surgery?
- Are there any side effects associated with tummy tuck surgery?
- Are there any risks associated with tummy tuck surgery?
Tummy tuck surgery allows patients to correct abdominal contour changes that have occurred following pregnancy and/or following excess weight gain and loss. During pregnancy, the intra-abdominal cavity is enlarged by the growing fetus which in turn pushes on the abdominal muscles. The abdominal muscles affected include two rectus muscles that are attached centrally to each other by a ligament called the linea alba. When these muscle are pushed out, the linea alba ligament is the first to give and stretch out. With extreme weight gain or long periods of moderate weight gain even the muscles themselves will stretch and thin out. This stretching out of the abdominal muscles and linea alba will result in the protrusion of the abdominal wall and thus increase in overall girth resulting in the loss of the desired hour glass shape associated with an attractive torso. The stretching out of the abdominal muscles as described above is medically referred to as abdominal diastasis. The same increase in pressure that lead to abdominal diastasis is also transferred to the overlying skin which results in stretching out of the abdominal skin. When stretching occurs over a short period and/or following extreme weight gain, then the overlying stretched skin can lose its elasticity. The loss of elasticity results in a secondary deformity of the abdominal skin notoriously referred to as stretch marks. Unfortunately, stretch marks become even more evident as one loses the undesirable weight gained. When the excess weight is lost, the overlying skin becomes loose and stretch marks become more vivid. Thus, following pregnancy and/or following weight gain and subsequent loss, patients will notice increase in over-all abdominal girth with loss of a desire hour glass shape, increased in skin redundancy, and variable degree of stretch marks. Dr. Mowlavi routinely meets patients in consultation who are seeking to correct one or all of the above deformities.
Tummy Tuck surgery is advocated for correcting abdominal deformities including increase in over-all girth, loss of desired hour glass shape, increase skin redundancy resulting in a loop of excess skin which gets in the way of proper fitting pants, and/or presence of unattractive stretch marks. Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ surgery is dedicated to accomplishing above goals in a natural and non-operated way. Tummy tuck surgery starts with an incision over the lowest part of the waistline just above the pubic region. A low incision placement is critical to ensure that the tummy tuck incision will be hidden under your undergarment wear or a bikini buttom. The length of this incision is variable and is determined by the extent of skin redundancy, extent of stretch marks, or where your loop of extra skin(called a pannus) ends. You can get an idea of how long this incision might be by looking at where your pannus ends laterally; it should be intuitive that the incision needs to get around and be at least the length of the unwanted skin, i.e. pannus. Dr. Mowlavi will design the length and position of this incision line with you during your initial consultation. It is prudent to wear your favorite style of undergarment wear or bikini buttom so that Dr. Mowlavi can ensure that incision lines will be hidden within your desired garments. This incision, referred to as the infra-abdominal incision, is the first intra-operative maneuver and begins the process of lifting the unwanted skin and fat layer off of the abdominal muscles. The abdominal skin and fat are then elevated off of the abdominal musculature upward as high as the rib cage. In completing this maneuver, it is necessary to release the belly button.
The belly button is the central abdominal structure that is first evident upon glancing at the abdomen. Although this structure is functionless, termed a vestigial organ, it is none the less critical to providing an over all balance to an attractive abdomen. The belly button is a tube shaped organ made up of skin, fat, and vascular structures that flow from inside the abdomen and help preserve its blood flow. When the belly button is released from the abdominal skin in order to allow for elevation of the skin and fat layer from the underlying abdominal muscles, its blood flow from the surrounding skin is cut off; this maneuver does restrict flow to the belly button. As such, Dr. Mowlavi has developed a novel method to secure the belly button stalk in order to ensure adequate blood flow and to achieve superior aesthetic results(see below).
Once the skin and fat layer is elevated up to the rib cage, the abdominal musculature can be fully visualized and sewn-in (termed plicated) like a brassire to re-approximate the stretched out linea alba. It is routine to plicate approximately 5 to 7 cm of the stetched out abdominal musculature which results in narrowing the waistline and re-establishing the hour glass shape. This plication is performed above the umbilicus, below the umbilicus, as well as laterally as separate stitch lines. The tension of these regions is variable controlled by Dr. Mowlavi during your Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ surgery to allow for an aesthetically pleasing and naturally appearing contour.
Next, the elevated skin and fat layer is redraped inferiorly and the redundant skin/fat layer is trimmed to rid you of all excess and stretch mark containing skin and to re-establish an aesthetically pleasing and tightened abdominal contour. In order to maximize resection of excess skin, the patient is flexed by 20 to 30 degrees. Once the redundant skin is trimmed, the skin and fat layer is repaired in layered fashion by separately repairing a tight layer in the skin and fat, termed the Scarpas fascia, as well as repair of two separate layers for the skin. Theses multiple layers utilized as part of your Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ surgery will ensure a well healed infra-abdominal incision line and avoid undesirable scarring.
The final step in tummy tuck surgery is to recreate the umbilicus which requires making an opening in the newly redraped skin envelop. A small oval opening is cut in the skin and the umbilical stalk is brought out and the umbilical end repaired. Identifying where to make this incision is an obstacle to most surgeons, as slight miscalculation of where the opening should be will result in a distorted belly button appearance. Dr. Mowlavi has developed a unique surgical tool to optimize locating the belly button stalk, called the Mowlavi Umbilicator (Please see article) that has a patent pending and has been submitted for publication. Using the Mowlavi Umbilicator allows the surgeon to accurately identify and create the oval umbilical opening. Additionally, original techniques described the simple pulling out of the belly button and sewing this stump end to the visible oval opening. However, this technique results in the visibility of the surgically repaired oval ring. This is in contrast to Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ technique developed by Dr. Mowlavi, where the belly button ring is sewn down within the umbilical shadow. Whereas the main tummy tuck incision line is located down low is hidden by routine undergarment wear and/or bikini buttoms, the belly button, i.e.umbilicus, is not amenable to being covered. As such, hiding the repair line of the umbilicus is of u™ost importance to an aesthetically pleasing result. Dr. Mowlavi has most recently developed the modified distally based umbilical stalk fixation during abdominoplasty which allows for complete and circumferential reapproximation of the umbilical stalk down to the abdominal musculature without compromising vascular flow to the umbilical end. You can read about Dr. Mowlavi’s modified umbilical fixation technique in his original article that has been submitted for publication (Please see original article). This technique has been performed successfully in numerous patients and the cosmetic results have been outstanding without any umbilical healing difficulties. Patients having undergone tummy tuck surgery with distally based umbilical stalk fixation have been provided for your convenience. Please review you the above postoperative photographic results to appreciate your potential following Tummy Tuck Natrelle™ surgery.
Natrelle™ is a trademark of Allergan Corporation
Modified Distally Based Umbilical Stalk Fixation During Abdominoplasty
A New Technique Involving a Spherical Stainless Steel Device, for Optimized Positioning of the Umbilicus
