The desire to return to a younger, slimmer physique is common to many women after childbirth and to both men and women as they age. Try as you might, you may not come very close to that svelte you of younger days. You should not feel bad about that, given that the human body is designed to lose muscle and gain fat the older you get.
However, you might still consider a tummy tuck, otherwise known as an abdominoplasty. This surgery pulls the abdominal muscles back together along the linea alba, a band of stretchy tissue that connects the abdominal muscles together and is responsible for holding these muscles in place. Patients who do get a tummy tuck often liken it to feeling as though a zipper has been installed in the stomach and zipped up tight. Don’t worry; the tight sensation subsides just enough for you to feel really toned.
The one thing a lot of patients worry about more is whether or not they can hide tummy tuck scars. To understand why this is a concern, you need to know how the tummy tuck procedure is typically done. Then you can see how to hide these scars if they are troublesome for you.
The Tummy Tuck
The plastic surgeon begins by making an incision from hip bone to hip bone, although different patients have fat distributed differently that might require an alternative cut. From this point, the surgeon removes a lot of fat from the abdomen to gain access to your abdominal muscles. When he or she can see the muscle groups, then he or she can stitch the muscle groups closer and tighter. The surgical material used to place these stitches will eventually dissolve as your body heals.
Meanwhile, you will have to wear a tight girdle of sorts to hold the proper shaping for your body. This helps your body rid itself of excess fluid from surgery and learn to accept the new shape granted by surgery. Your skin will be “taught” how to to be taut, as it were, and that’s how you get the best results.
You also have to avoid a lot of movement for about two to six weeks during your tummy tuck recovery. In the first two weeks you can’t move at all or you might tear the surgical site and increase the size of your scars. Whatever scars you do end up with can be hidden and covered in a variety of clever ways, as well as treated medically.
Hiding Your Scars the Usual Way
The typical tummy tuck scar is from hip to hip and low enough that it is just above the pubic bone. Underwear and bathing suits always cover these scars. They are only visible if you are nude, which means that only significant others, sexual partners and doctors may ever see this scar.
Another scar is around your belly button. The plastic surgeon has to cut around your belly button and move it upward as the muscles are pulled tight and the flesh under, over, and around the bellybutton’s current position is removed. A new opening for your bellybutton is made higher up on your stomach and stitched in place. The scar around the belly button is hardly noticeable, but a little foundation or bronzer can hide these smaller scars.
Hiding Scars Medically
There are a couple of options for hiding tummy tuck scars via medical means. Scar cream is frequently used to “bleach” the purple to brown or pink skin color of scars. The cream or gel you usually use to shrink and bleach stretch marks is commonly prescribed for this.
If the scars are large, really noticeable, and/or cause you emotional and psychological trouble, skin grafts can help. Most plastic surgeons will look for other non-surgical ways to medically treat larger tummy tuck scars as more surgery and skin grafts won’t guarantee visual improvement. Still, it may be something to consider.
More Unique Ways to Hide Scars
Some women use bronzers and foundation to hide and blend scars into nearby tissue. However, makeup of this sort only works if you are not getting into a pool, a natural body of water, or a shower. Additionally, some cheaper bronzers may make scars darker than the skin tissue surrounding them. It’s a testing process to find just the right makeup.
One really creative way to hide scars is to tattoo the scar. Women in particular find this an attractive option because they can tattoo over the scar and hide it completely with literally any tattoo they want. Body piercings can also disguise the scars by making the scar tissue the point where piercings can be placed.
Adding Supplements to Your Diet
Topical medication that contains vitamins C and E and collagen, as well as supplements you swallow containing these health additives, can improve the appearance of scars. If you consume enough water, skin nourishing vitamins, collagen, and a healthy diet, the scars may diminish over time such that you can’t really see them at all. At best, you give your skin and body what it needs anyway and eliminate the scar. At worst, it doesn’t do much to change the appearance of the scar but you’re healthier for it anyway.
Aesthetic Measures to Improve Scars
There are also some aesthetic measures to improve scars. Microdermabrasion and injections that help smooth the skin are common. You will have to decide how much the scars bother you and whether you really need to hide them at all. Then you can decide which methods mentioned previously are right for your tummy tuck scars after your tummy tuck.
