27 Comments

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  February 5, 2010 at 2:51 pm

  Caron:
  The reason exercise cannot solve the problem is that it is the ligament between the muscles that gets stretched, not the muscle itself.
  There is a surgery where we go through the belly button to fix the diastasis, so there is no major scar. I love doing it and one of our surgical techs signed up for it after seein me do it.
  She had thought about it for years but, like you, she wanted to avoid the large scar. She loves the result and if patients want to hear about the procedure, I will have them contact her.

• Caron Ellis wrote
  February 1, 2010 at 3:04 am

  I appreciate the comments. I have had had two children and I work out every day. I bike, run, ski, weights and despite what I do my stomache will not tighten up. As a matter of fact the loose skin becomes more obvious. I am not prepared for any major surgery to correct this. I just wish there was some exercise that could help to repair the muscle.

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  January 18, 2010 at 5:08 pm

  Angie:
  I am so sorry you are having this problem.
  I will tell you that surgeons are not God, that the body sometimes heals in unpredictable ways, but luckily, in the US, the vast majority of Plastic Surgeons want their patients to be happy.
  It looks like your surgeon is on the right track. I have used those barbed sutures and I love them. They redistribute the wound tension really well.
  I also would advise against a mesh at this point. They are really more appropriate for people who have had a major ventral hernia.

• A wrote
  January 18, 2010 at 1:35 am

  Dr. Ricardo & a writter named Craig.
  Dr. Ricardo, I too had surgery 8 months ago and my stomach has come back giving me the prego look again. I did not gain really any weight (1-2pds.). I also work out and was told before surgery and now, that I am not carry a ton of fat. My PS is semi stumped by my problem and clame’s he has never had this happen to him. He does not feel that my stiches came loose, he feels that I might have fat around my organs. Could he have known this before my surgery? Would I have had to be fat all my life? My stomach was flat after the sugrery and slowly got this way again. He mentioned before surgery, that I did not even need my lipo really that I did not have a lot of fat, that my stomach was out truly because of mussels being seperated. I am 128, 5′ 2. I have being reading on “mesh”, but my PS does not want to use it. He is mentioning some sort of barbed wire stiches. I am will to have the surgery again, I just want to make sure it is going to work. Any advice?
  Craig,
  What did your wife do? does she still have the problem?
  Any advice or help by anyone would be helpful. I feel lost with no answers at this point. You think having a tummy tuck is a last resort because diet and working out do not work. You never think the surgery wont work either. I mean wow, what a blow…
  Thank you,
  A

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  January 17, 2010 at 5:27 pm

  Catrina:
  About 40% of our patients are African American.
  A large part of our practice is body contouring and we love doing it, so come on down!
  We’d love to help you!
  Call Kelly at kelly@cosmeticsurg.net

• Catrina Adams wrote
  January 12, 2010 at 6:03 pm

  Belly fat is a big problem within my entire family and in my African-American culture its unheard of to surgically remove anything they feel God intended U to have…. I’m not a small girl nor have I ever been, but Im too small to have the belly that I have; which has come in the last 10 years. I’m hoping to have the surgery and the rest of my family and some friends will follow because belly fat is our problem no matter if wear a 5 or 16 everyone should have a nice figure!!!

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  December 4, 2009 at 1:17 pm

  Kimberly:
  Healing time should be 4 weeks. Otherwise you risk disrupting the muscle repair.
  As for cost, contact Kelly at kelly@cosmeticsurg.net
  We’d be delighted to hear from you, we get a lot of out of town patients.

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  December 4, 2009 at 1:14 pm

  Craig:
  If the muscle feels solid, it may be that she needs to work her abs more.
  The second possibility is that she has had a buildup of fat tissue. This happens because even though you take out fat, as long as calories in is greater than calories out, patients drift back up to their presurgical weight. If this is the case, she might respond to lipo. Her weight will come back, but in another area.
  The third possibility is that she may have separated the muscle after surgery if she coughed too much or something else stressed the sutures.
  I’d get a second opinion before trying a mesh.

• Kimberly Dixon wrote
  December 4, 2009 at 11:22 am

  I am considering having my stomach muscles sewn.. I got muscle seperation during my second pregnancy. What is the average cost for the procedure? Also, how much healing time should one expect?
  Thank you for your time.
  Kim

• CRAIG wrote
  December 3, 2009 at 5:27 pm

  Hi Dr. Rodriguez, my wife had a tummy tuck by what we believe to be a very good surgeon. She had excellent results at first, but now 9-10 months later, her stomach seems to protrude a little too much. She is petite and in good shape (works out) and this does not appear to be weight gain. The doctor said to try pilates or abdominal exercises to strengthen her core, or he might recommend another surgery with adding a mesh on top of the muscle? Any insight as to why this might be happening? The Doctor says the muscles still feel tight. Thanks so much, Craig.

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  October 6, 2009 at 10:35 am

  Well, as you well have said, you have tried excercise and it doesn’t work.
  Sometimes, the muscle can be intact, but the skin is loose. Once skin has stretched beyond a certain point it is very hard to get it back to where it was. In those cases a procedure where only the skin is excised can help a lot. This is called a dermatolipectomy.
  Let Kelly know if we can be of more help to you, and thanks for reading our blog!
  You can contact Kelly at kelly@cosmeticsurg.net

• EDITH SUBIA wrote
  October 4, 2009 at 11:24 pm

  Well i have skin and fat that is mainly around my belly button area and it hangs off to the sides…….i have tried swimming,running in the mornings and eating smaller meals for about a month now but no dice i still look the same……..i dont have any illnesses like blood pressure or diabetes i’m perfectly healthy except for my belly situation…….so what would you recommend? what exercise or operation?

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  October 2, 2009 at 10:37 am

  Yes, it is possible to have a partial separation.
  I myself have a partial separation. It can be very effectively fixed.
  We’d love to hear from you!

• EDITH SUBIA wrote
  October 1, 2009 at 10:12 pm

  I TRIED IT AND I WANTED TO ASK IF YOU CAN HAVE A SEMI-SEPERATION BECAUSE MY STOMACHE IS TIGHT ON THE TOP BUT I CAN KINDA FEEL A SPACE ABOUT AN INCH ABOVE MY BELLY BUTTON AND IVE HAD 4 SINGLES PREGNANCIES AND ONE MULTIPLE PREGNANCY.

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  September 24, 2009 at 8:57 pm

  Thanx for the compliment!

• Colleen wrote
  September 18, 2009 at 4:39 pm

  If you are looking for an awesome belly button please go see Dr. Rodriguez. He did my TT and I totally love my cute, perfect belly button. He knows his stuff!

• Dr. Ricardo L Rodriguez wrote
  August 26, 2009 at 2:59 pm

  Private reply done thru your email.
  That’s great work you ladies do at tummytucktalk!

• Carol wrote
  August 20, 2009 at 8:38 pm

  Doctor Rodriquez, thank you so much for all the support you gave us on tummytucktalk.ning.com
  You truly helped so many ladies with all their tummytuck questions and even though we are a wonderful support group for tummy tuckers. Their is nothing like a wonderful doctor like yourself to advice as you can.

  I do have a question for you, I dont like my bellybutton after the tuck I had with another ps… and I read that you actually do belly button repairs. I know that I would like to come see you myself to see if you can revise my belly button with internal bb stiching as opposed to the ring around my bb I have now. I hate it absolutely hate it !!! It has almost been two years since my abdominioplasty and would like to know if this is just a simple in house procedure.. with lidocane?, if their is much down time? and do you do only internal stiching so their isnt a ring outside of the belly button?

  Thanks so much,
  The belly button is so far important then one realizes until they have a tuck.. and then see others with normal belly buttons .. and want one like theres..

  Thanks again Dr. R

• Amanda wrote
  August 20, 2009 at 10:31 am

  Hi doctor I love your blogs keep up the good work. I tried emailing you using the website but i don’t believe it went through. Is there a email address you can send me so I can email you? Thank you!

• admin wrote
  July 22, 2009 at 9:43 pm

  If your muscles are not separated, you may be a candidate for just the skin part of the procedure. This is called a dermatolipectomy, and it is a shorter, less painful procedure than the full tummy tuck. It also has a much shorter recovery time. For the right patient, and it seems you are, Dermatolipectomy is a great choice.

• Lissa wrote
  July 22, 2009 at 4:03 pm

  Thank you for your funny and informative video. While I do not have a separation in my rectus abdominis, I do have pouches of loose skin - one on the right side, one on the left - as well as some fat tissue mostly below my navel. I’ve been doing weight training and deep water fitness workouts for 18 months with good results generally but I despair of losing the pouches and lower belly fat.

  Is mine a tummy tuck situation?

• admin wrote
  July 17, 2009 at 3:54 pm

  Sorry, wish I could help you, but I just don’t know any surgeons there.
  If you do price comparisons, you may find coming to the US may be an alternative to consider.

• Alex wrote
  July 17, 2009 at 4:35 am

  It kinds of convinced me on going for a Tummy Tuck. The problem now is to find a good one in Britain.

• admin wrote
  July 15, 2009 at 6:41 pm

  Scar care depends on the cause of the scar.
  If the scar is due to excessive tension on the skin, no massage or cream will improve it.
  Treatment of the scar depends on where it is located, what the cause of it is, how old is the scar., etc. Some scars do better than others depending on location, for example, a scar near a joint is always difficult to treat. Scars that are along skin flexion lines do very well.
  Although massage may help in some cases, it may aggravate conditions in other cases.
  If you are very concerned about a particular scar, the “Best way to Care for a scar” is to go see a plastic surgeon near you who has experience in treating scars and is able to individualize your treatment.
  It is extremely hard to make recommendations, not having seen the scar or knowing how it originated, or to give any meaningful advice until I know more information.
  Thanks for the interest!

• Laura wrote
  July 11, 2009 at 12:24 pm

  Can you please answer some questions about scar care? What is the best way to care for a scar? What products do you recommend using? What kind of “massage” do you recommend and how do you do this “massage”? What do you think of silicone strips/bandages?

• admin wrote
  July 8, 2009 at 5:59 pm

  The length of the scar depends on how much loose skin you have.
  If your skin has relatively good tone I might be able to do all the work from your previous scars, plus a scar hidden in the belly button. The patient in the video had a lot of very loose skin so her scar is from hip bone to hip bone. Even if you are built like her, the most important factor is skin laxity.
  Thanx for visiting our blog!

• Margaret wrote
  July 8, 2009 at 5:04 pm

  Thanks for the video. I do have abdominal separation; no amount of exercise has helped; I also have a small umbilical hernia (according to an xray I recently had to assess my tummy situation). I am very interested in a tummy tuck but I am concerned about the scar. I have had 3 c-sections, so I have a small scar. How long does the tummy tuck scar need to be? How long was the scar on the woman in the video (she and I are built the same).