LBL muscle tightening question..

I went for my consult this morning. I'm very pleased and excited! Since I do not have kids yet and I do plan on having them in the future my dr recommended me NOT go with the muscle tightening. Has anyone had a LBL w/o the tightening done?? Were you pleased with your results??

My surgeon said he would only do the muscle repair if he needed to.  Fortunately, I was in good shape and he did NOT need to do the repair.

I am THRILLED with the results!

Good luck!

~BJ

Every dr is different, I did discuss pregnancy post LBL with mine and he did the muscle tightening.  My body was out of wack for 25 years with stomach weight, so he had to...not to mention he's had several patients who even bounce back faster after a TT post prego....just something to consider.  I've heard it both ways, I weighed my options and did what I felt was best.

It would be interesting to see if people didn't have the muscles tightened.

A friend of mine is 8 months preggo and got pregnant after 7 months post LBL and she looks fantastic pregnant! I would imagine her stomach will look great after pergnancy and feels much more supported in her pregancy with tight muscles.  Our doc said u will never go back to where u were preop after WLS.. just have the normal preganancy stretch which varies by person after an LBL or TT.

I think muscle tightening should be done if it's needed to get the best result.  Often, it may not be needed in women who have never been pregnant but truncal obesity can separate the muscles and prevent a nice sculpted result after surgery.

So I will use a single layer of sutures rather than my usual two when I have a patient considering future pregnancy.

When I was at MD Anderson, a study was done on women who had TRAM flaps (using stomach fat and muscle to reconstruct the breast after mastectomy) and later became pregnant.  All did fine, even after extensive suturing and reconstruction of the abdominal wall...so I'm more comfortable putting in stitches.

Best wishes,

John LoMonaco, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Plastic Surgery
Houston, Texas

www.DrLoMonaco.com
www.BodyLiftHouston.com