Tummy Tuck for Bedford Village, NY

Inside the operation

Knowing what actually happens in the operating room makes a tummy tuck far less daunting. Below is the sequence as Dr. Chang Soo Kim performs it in Bellava’s Joint Commission–accredited suite at 182 Route 117 Bypass Road in Bedford Hills — about ten minutes without traffic from Bedford Village, up Route 22 and along Bedford Center Road and Harris Road.

Dr. Kim earned his medical degree at the Yale School of Medicine, completed his plastic surgery residency at Yale–New Haven Hospital and is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He has performed more than 500 tummy tucks. Meet Dr. Kim.

Step by step

1. Anesthesia. You are asleep under general anesthesia, and a dilute numbing fluid is run into the tissues to limit bleeding.
2. The incision. A horizontal cut is made low on the abdomen, hip to hip, in roughly the position of a C-section scar, so that underwear and swimwear will cover it.
3. The muscles. Stomach muscles pulled apart by pregnancy — diastasis recti — are stitched back together. This is what flattens the bulge that no amount of exercise could.
4. Skin and fat. The loose skin and fat below are removed and the remaining skin is drawn down.
5. The belly button. A separate incision frees the navel, and a new opening is made for it in the tightened skin.
6. Contouring. Dr. Kim usually adds liposuction of the upper abdomen and flanks — lipo-abdominoplasty, an approach he has used hundreds of times — so the abdominal skin ends up thinner and smoother.
7. Closing. The skin is closed in layers with dissolving stitches, small drains are placed to carry off fluid, and a compression binder goes on.

Depending on the technique, the operation takes two to five hours, and you go home the same day.

Preparing at home

• Stop smoking several weeks beforehand; it slows healing.
• Check the medicine cabinet. Aspirin, anti-inflammatories and some supplements raise the risk of bleeding, and Dr. Kim will tell you which to pause.
• Fill prescriptions in advance so nobody has to run errands on the day.
• Arrange a caregiver for the first days at home.

After the operation

For about a week you walk and sit slightly bent at the waist while the repair settles. The drains come out at the office seven to ten days after surgery — a short trip from the village. Desk work generally returns in two to three weeks and harder exercise at about six, once Dr. Kim clears you; crunches and planks are best left for at least twelve weeks. The compression garment stays on for around six weeks.

Bedford Village patients ask

How long does the scar take to fade? It keeps improving for 12 to 18 months, and it sits low enough to stay hidden by most underwear and swimwear.

Who is it for? Women after pregnancy, and men and women after weight changes, who have loose skin or separated muscles and are at or near a stable weight. It is not a way to lose weight.

What if my loose skin is only below the navel? A mini tummy tuck may be enough. Read the main tummy tuck page before your free consultation.