If you’ve had children or lost a good deal of weight, odds are your abdomen isn’t what it once was. Loose skin and a little pooch — that’s the usual condition. Why? Because when skin and the connective tissue beneath is stretched, due to pregnancy or weight gain, it can only maintain its ability to return to its former tautness for so long. After that, the elasticity is lessened. The result? The tummy pooch or worse.

Dr. Barrera can bring your abdomen back closer to its former self with a tummy tuck. He gives patients a few different options when it comes to tummy tuck procedures.

Mini tummy tuck

Also known as a limited-incision abdominoplasty, a mini tummy tuck involves only the lower incision along the bikini line. Mini tucks only target the lower abdominal area. The length of the incision can vary depending on the patient’s unique situation. It can be an ideal solution if you have very little excess skin, but still want to eliminate that pooch in your lower belly. The mini tummy tuck is far less invasive than its traditional counterpart, so recovery is easier and scarring is less.

Full tummy tuck

A full tummy tuck is recommended for those women with a good deal of loose abdominal skin. During a full tummy tuck, a larger section of excess skin and fat is removed, and the underlying muscles are tightened to produce a shapelier waistline. For full tummy tucks, Dr. Barrera makes two incisions, the lower incision along the bikini line and a second incision around the navel area.

Muscle repair

To create the tight, flat abdomen that everyone wants, Dr. Barrera not only removes excess skin, but also repairs your abdominal muscles. By reworking these muscles this procedure can also have the added benefit of relieving back pain, as the muscles can now do their job supporting the back. In many cases, the muscles will have separated in the center of the stomach, so Dr. Barrera brings them back into the center, which often slims the patient’s waist as a side benefit.

Liposuction

There was a time when women chose between a tummy tuck and liposuction, but now the two procedures usually overlap. In addition to loose, saggy skin, most people also have pockets of fat that don’t respond to exercise or dietary changes. Liposuction removes these pockets. Dr. Barrera prefers to use liposuction to remove the excess fat on the sides of the abdomen, while removing fat from the center of the abdomen surgically.

Having a couple of children doesn’t mean you have to spend the rest of your life with a stomach pooch. Call Dr. Barrera at (713) 468-5200 and set up a consultation for a tummy tuck.