Tummy Tuck Surgery In Chicago and Northbrook, IL

After abdominoplasty, you will return home wearing an abdominal binder. You should expect the first few days following surgery to be the most uncomfortable, though the pain will be minimal if you opted for EXPAREL®. Your abdomen will feel tight, and the muscles may intermittently spasm for a few days. It may be more comfortable to walk slightly hunched over during the first week of recovery, but by the end of the first week, you should try to straighten out your torso. Your drains will typically stay in for one or two weeks. If you have two drains, the left one to drain more than the right one. During the first two weeks, take it easy and avoid any strenuous physical activities to prevent bleeding or raising your heart rate and blood pressure. By week three of recovery, you may begin walking slowly on a treadmill. By week four, you may begin easing into a workout routine. By week five, you may begin gentle upper body exercises, and by week six, you may return to all preoperative exercise routines (including abdominal exercises).

EXPAREL® is a time-released pain medication that is injected into the soft tissue during a tummy tuck. It has been shown to significantly reduce discomfort during the initial recovery period. Our patients who choose to receive EXPAREL® are far more comfortable during recovery than the typical tummy tuck patient. Dr. Schlechter has extensive experience using EXPAREL® to make recovery more comfortable for his patients.

Abdominoplasty is not a weight loss procedure. A desire to lose weight should not be the primary reason for you to want a tummy tuck. Even though you are getting rid of excess skin and fat, the weight loss is minimal. On the other hand, the improvements to your body contour can be profound, and your new waist appearance may give the impression that you have lost weight.

Abdominoplasty and other elective surgeries are not covered by insurance because they are not considered medically necessary. We do offer patient financing options to help patients afford the cost of surgery.

If your stretch marks are limited to the lower abdomen only, you may be fortunate enough to have no more stretch marks after surgery. A tummy tuck will remove many of the stretch marks in the lower abdomen, but the upper abdomen may have minimal stretch marks that are still visible. As the skin of the abdomen is tightened during abdominoplasty, any stretch marks originally in the upper abdomen will be moved to the mid and lower abdominal area. Dr. Schlechter contours the abdominal skin in such a way as to achieve the best result possible for every unique patient. The overall result is a flatter and smoother abdomen with a significant reduction of stretch marks.

A mini tummy tuck applies the same principles as a standard tummy tuck for removing excess skin and tightening the abdominal muscles, but it does so on a much smaller scale. Far fewer candidates qualify for this technique because a mini tummy tuck only addresses issues below the belly button. For the mini tummy tuck, an incision is made at the panty line. Through the incision, the surgeon sutures the lower abdominal muscles and excises any loose skin. Because the procedure is less involved, the recovery is a bit easier, but the results are also more minimal. Individuals with loose skin and protrusion issues that are only below the belly button may be good candidates for this technique. During your consultation, Dr. Schlechter will determine whether a mini tummy tuck is all you may need to achieve the best results.