At the offices of Steven Warnock MD, we’re proud to provide high-quality tummy tuck services to help patients who want to rid themselves of excess weight and skin in the abdomen area. These services, available to both men and women, help people raise their self-esteem and improve their appearance significantly.
We’re not only here to provide a procedure and send you on your way, however. No, our team will help you maintain your results moving forward by offering tips and expertise on important areas you should prioritize. Without the right steps taken, you could end up reversing much of the beneficial work that was done on your body. Here are three important areas you should be thinking about in the aftermath of tummy tuck surgery.
Preventing Weight Gain
The primary consideration directly after a tummy tuck will be your weight. Gaining weight stretches the skin out, and this stretching often remains even once you’ve lost that weight – in many cases, this is exactly what patients want a tummy tuck for to begin with.
But in the post-surgery period, maintaining this is particularly important. Major weight gain after your procedure might quickly reverse the benefits it offered, so you should avoid all heavily processed foods or those high in sodium and saturated fat. Look to add as many fruits and vegetables to your diet as possible, as well as lean protein where possible. Also look for ways to increase your exercise, whether it’s through playing sports or finding other aerobic areas you can do regularly.
Smoking
If you’re a smoker, we’ll advise you to both stop smoking temporarily before a tummy tuck and to quit permanently following this procedure. Smoking is a huge cause of increased risk factors during the procedure – it limits blood flow in several areas, and also decreases the body’s ability to heal itself and recover after a surgical procedure like this.
Not only can this affect you during the surgery, it can affect you into the future as well. It will cause your healing to take longer, for one, and also will contribute to premature aging in several areas.
Future Pregnancies
We generally recommend that female clients only get tummy tuck surgery after they’re finished having children for the remainder of their lives. There’s no hard and fast rule here, per se, but pregnancy can have several negative effects on your tummy tuck, including straining and tearing the abdominal muscles and stretching the skin.
In fact, past pregnancies are one of the most common reasons people choose to have tummy tucks. But if you get pregnant soon after such a procedure, you risk undoing all the results from your previous surgery.
For more on maintaining your tummy tuck results after surgery, or to learn about any of our cosmetic surgery offerings, speak to the staff at the offices of Steven Warnock MD today.