Question:
Tummy tuck with circumferential lift

I would like to know if anyone has had a tummy tuck with circumferential lift done? I'm having it done on 6-16-04. Would love to know what you paid and how the pain is after. I'm paying 11,000.00 Thanks for any information. Tab    — Tab F. (posted on March 15, 2004)

March 15, 2004
Had abdominoplasty and belt lipectomy which is circumferential lift on Dec. 22, 2003. Now, 12 weeks later, the end justifies the means. The recovery is slow but you will be very happy for sure. My insurance covered the procedure because it was reconstructive. Good luck to you.
   — Steve B.

March 15, 2004
I had it done Dec. 19, 2003. I thought the worst part was the drains. I didn't have a lot of pain, but my surgeon used something called a marcaine pump to control most pain. It had little tiny tubes that went directly into the incision sites and numbed the area for two days following surgery. So I really got over the "pain" part fairly easily with that little miracle. The rest for me could be classified as uncomfortable. The drain sites got very sore, and were really more of a problem for me than the pain itself. Definitely worth it though - you will be very very happy. My insurance also covered it as reconstructive. Best of luck.
   — raye

March 15, 2004
Tab, I think you are also referring to a Lower Body Lift. I am having this done on 5-11. I hear the pain is 10X worse than RNY. I am paying $13,600 for mine. Good Luck. Email me if you wanna keep in touch for moral [email protected]
   — heathercross

March 17, 2004
My TT was part of the lower body lift and, luckily, insurance paid for the entire procedure. Most surgeons do the muscle work with a TT but do ask about it. My tummy is completely flat as a board and I did have the muscle work done. I have a new belly button that is so cute. They pulled all the redundant skin down tight and cut off my old belly button. I'd do it again tomorrow. Phenomenal results.
   — Vicki S.

March 18, 2004
I had a lower body lift 3-1/2 weeks ago. Mine consisted of a full extended abdominoplasty and lateral thigh lift. My experience was it is the worst pain I have ever experienced but it has gotten better. I was prepared for lots of pain, figuring all the nerves being cut etc. What I wasn't prepared for was the pain coming from my skin being so tight and then pulling on the incisions. The day after surgery I did want to die. Part of my situation is that I lost almost 5 units of blood which just wiped me out. Til I got transfused I thought I might not get out of the hospital for at least a week or more. They had me on a morphine PCA but after two days I could not deal with the headaches and burning pain from the morphine. They put me on Torodol through the IV and that really controlled the pain and swelling so much better and I was able to get moving. They supplemented with Darvocet in between as the 6 hours between Torodol was a little too long. I did get off of pain meds at about 1 week but it was mostly because of the headaches they were causing. The pain was tolerable so I switched to extra strength tylenol. At 1-1/2 weeks the doc had to cut out some dead skin at the top of my butt crack and that pain sent me back to pain pills for about 3-4 days again, but then I got off and have stayed off since then. <p>As far as cost, my insurance approved the abdominoplasty but denied the lateral thigh lift portion. I had the surgery done at a hospital that offers cosmetic surgery packages. They agree to give me the package price for the portion I had to pay. It is billed per hour of surgery - $600 for OR and $250 for anesthesiology. So for every hour I was in surgery it cost me $850 per hour. They estimated the LTL portion would be 4 hours so I had to pay them $3400. The surgeon fee for the LTL was $5094 but because it was a 2nd procedure to the abdominoplasty they reduce the fee by 50% so it cost me $2547. <p>Had I been totally self pay the hospital bill would have been about $12,000. 10 hours of surgery X $850 per hour = $8,500. 3 days in the hospital at I believe $1200 per day = $3600. Grand total $12,100. I suspect that would not have included the blood transfusions I had as that's normal and not possible to include in a package price. The surgeon's fee would have still been a total of $7641. The grand total would have been $19,741. As a comparison the detailed bill from the hospital ended up being $36,000 and change. So self pay would have been $12,100 versus insurance billed at $36,000+. It will be interesting to see what BCBS does with the charges as there is no clear way to determine what portion of everything belongs which procedure. The OR report doesn't seem to clearly define how much time was spent on what. If insurance pays for everything I sure am going to ask for my $3400 back. The bottom line is the hospital has an agreement with my insurance company and I've already met my deductible so no matter what I won't have to pay anything more than what I've paid. <p>My surgeon will be paid $7641. Trust me he earned way more than that with the amount of work he had to do and has had to do as part of my recovery. I've seen him twice a week since surgery for drain issues, dead skin issues etc. I'm not sorry I did it but the recovery has been slower than I expected. I usually bounce right back from surgery. It took till this week for me to feel like I had energy and stamina. Last week (3rd week) I would work about 3-4 hours then go home and sleep for about 2 hours then go back to work for a couple more. I could not have made it all day. It is worth the post op problems etc. to get the end results. For the first time in my life my gut/hip area is smaller than my upper body. The upper body has always been 2 sizes smaller, so this is a huge change. Good luck on your procedure. You will be amazed at the results!
   — zoedogcbr

March 19, 2004
I haven't had my "extended abdominoplasty" (circumferenial lift, all the way 'round) yet either, but I've shopped the surgeons and finally scheduled it for July. Self-pay, price is $10,000 (D.C. area). I sure hope it isn't 10x the pain of the RNY, but I'm not planning for it to be a "day at the beach," either. ;-)
   — Suzy C.