Tummy tucks are one of the more popular procedures in the plastic surgery world.
Unfortunately, they may also be more dangerous.
Tummy tucks are technically known as abdominoplasty, and it involves removing excess skin from the abdomen to create a smoother tummy.
In a recent study, researchers took data from 25,000 people who had tummy tucks between 2008 and 2013. Four percent of these people suffered major complications after their procedures. This is much higher than the 1.4 percent of people who experience these complications in other surgery procedures.
The most common complications are infections, lung problems, blood clots, and blood pooling outside of the blood vessels.
Dr. Julian Winocour, a resident of plastic surgery at Vanderbilt University, said, “These complications can have a major impact on the cosmetic result and their overall health.”
Among 25,478 patients in the study, 65 percent had more than one procedure including a tummy tuck, and 35 percent had only a tummy tuck.
Patients with only a tummy tuck had a 3.1 percent rate of complications. When combined with another procedure, like body contouring it rose to 6.8 percent. Tummy tuck with body contouring and liposuction rose the rate to 10.4 percent.
Major complications were also more common in men, those over 55, and obese individuals.
Winocour says this is due to a number of different factors. Those who underwent tummy tucks were, for example, more likely to be overweight or to have diabetes. They were also more likely to undergo more than one procedure at once. These factors make complications far more likely.
So talk to a doctor about possible risks if you want a tummy tuck.
