MA ps consult No Muscle tightening? Input please!

Had my first of four ps consults today.  Only being my first consult it will be interesting to see what the others have to say.  We discussed my having a lower body lift, a breast lift with augmentation and what to do with my arms.  He would do things in two surgeries.  The first surgery he would do is the lbl and arm liposuction.  He says my arms are not too bad and showed me a picture of a woman with arms worse than mine that he did only lipo on and her results although not perfect, are a vast improvement.  If mine came out only that good, it would be a very satisfactory trade off to the arm scars.  But,  if the results were not good enough (which I'm prepared for) the second surgery would include an arm lift. as well as a right breast lift using a peri-areola lift and implants to fill them back out.  Luckily I don't have much sagging (boobies were not that big before).  Anyone have only lipo on arms? Happy...enough?

He would re-evaluate my thighs at that time and possible tweak them with lipo. I would make a decision then about my inner thighs and  further addressing them.  Really don't want the inner thigh scar if I can help it.  He also spoke about a medial thigh lift, but does not seem to be a big fan as he says those scars almost always migrate downward.  

There's one thing said today that I totallly did not anticipate.  He does not feel my abdominal muscles need tightening.   He said there is only a very small seperation in my abd muscles and was able to direct my fingers to that area.  Its only about an inch long right above my bellly button. When he gets in there he will tighten them if needed.  Has anyone else had a LBL without having the abdominal muscles tightening?  Are you happy with the results or would you do things differently?  I have always carried my weight primarily in my butt and thighs but still assummed my abd muscles would need tightening.  Next consult on Wedensday so I'll see what that one has to say.

Thanks for any input!!  I'll keep you posted.
Paula

Each PS has their own set of rules when applying them to their patients.  I would listen and evaluate each surgeon on what is the best outcome for you.  I had muscle repair between my muscles were separated enough to have past a fist through.  If I could have had PS without the repair, then I certainly would have gone that route.  Less pain that away.  Good luck on finding your surgeon.

 Thanks Tess!

Hmmmm...not sure what to make of this surgeon's ideas. There are some "rouge" surgeons out there who always like to do things just a little differently than everyone else, which may or may not be a good thing. Not saying this surgeon or his ideas are "different", though. Maybe he is just trying to explain them in a way that the average patient can understand him or something. I'm glad you have other consults, though, because my first thought after reading your post is that this surgeon left you a little confused with his plan of action. Seeing other surgeons should bring everything into focus, and will either make you more interested in this surgeon's plan, or will make you realize he's not the one for you.

I was actually reading about this exact thing the other day because I was wondering if my surgeon did any muscle repair. I assume she did, because she prescribes muscle relaxers, but I may be wrong. The main reason that I was wondering is because I joked with one of her nurses that I "wished she could take out my ovaries when she was in there". The nurse thought about it a minute and said, "That would be a big surgery because she would have to go through the muscle." Huh?? Guess I should have asked about it then, but instead, I Googled, lol.

Anyway, here's an interesting thread about muscle repair...

http://www.realself.com/question/no-muscle-tightening-after-tummy-tuck

I had a tt almost 5 weeks ago without any muscle tightening. My surgeon also felt my muscles and did not feel any seperation so she determined it wasn't needed. I was fine with that as 1) it probably would not have been covered under insurance and 2) I remember the pain from my c-section when they cut through the muscles and it was like a knife cutting through every time I tried to get up. Not pleasant. I would say my recovery was so much easier without it, very little pain at all.

 Thanks Trish.  I hope you are happy with your results. Second consult tomorrow with Dr Hall in Stoneham.  Looking forward to his point of view.