Question:
What is the difference in a tummy tuck and a lower body lift?

I went to my plastic surgeon and he is working with my insurance company to have a tummy tuck (admominoplast). When my mother called the doctor office to see if they have heard anything they said that getting approval for a lower body lift takes some time with the insurance company. So is a lower body lift involve the stomach, butt, inner thighs or outer thighs? Thanks Trisha Sizemore    — Snowflake_Princess (posted on January 22, 2005)

January 22, 2005
An admoninalplasty intails usually a "T" incision that is upside down. I had one for a large hernia repair and scar revision (6"X9" scar) back in 1993. It was very painful because the doctor tightened up the muscle wall below. I could not stand up straight for almost 2 months. Now, this is also different than a panniculectomy, which is a surgery that takes the apron off and there is an incision that goes from hip to hip. The doctor will start at the top right (for an abdominalplasty) under the breast bone and go down almost until the pubic area and then go across from hip to hip. Hence the "T". He/she will pull in all the excess skin from the mid section and then from the belly area. A lower body lift usually entails an incision all the way around the body and the doctor will bring down and up all the excess skin. I think that you probably could go back to your doctor and look at drawings or patient pictures at the doctor's office. Any good doctor will have before and after shots. You could also put plastic surgery procedures in your search engine and should be able to come up with sites that have picutres. Hope that helps. I am pretty familiar with all the procedures because my husband is meeting with a doctor for a panniculectomy right now and I was scheduled for a lower circumferential body lift this Friday but had it hopefully only temporarily postponed because of an overactive thyroid. Christine :)
   — ChristineB

January 22, 2005
Previous poster here. If you copy into your internet explorer address field this site http://www.surgery.org/public/photogallery.php/17 it will take you to post bariatric photos. Good luck. Christine.
   — ChristineB

January 23, 2005
I had a lower body lift in October. It was a 360 degree cut that included the abdominoplasty, outer thigh lift and butt lift. I just had the inner thigh lift done as a separate procedure last week as well as a breast lift with augmentation. I am so very pleased with the overall results. I am amazed at the difference in my body just from having the excess skin removed! I hope that your results are equally successful. Good luck to you.
   — [Deactivated Member]

January 23, 2005
There are different ways to do the tt. I had an abdominoplasty and my incision is just hip to hip. I had muscle tightening and all the excess skin pulled down and cut off. The tt just concentrates on your stomach. The lower body lift concentrates on your stomach, butt and outer thighs.
   — Patty H.

January 24, 2005
There actually isn't a procedure code for a lower body lift. There are two codes that make up a LBL - abdominoplasty and lateral thigh lift. Abdominoplasties can vary drastically also depending on what you need and what the doctor does. Usually the difference between an andominoplasty and a panniculectomy is that the TT includes muscle tightening. Now some docs will do muscle tightening with a panni, which is really a tt, but they know insurance won't cover a tt, so they bill it the other way. They don't get paid as much for a panni, but it must be enough for them that they do all the work. <p>I actually had a full extended abdominoplasty and done in 2 surgeries. I had the inverted T, which not all abdominoplasty patients needs. It depends totally on how you are built and how you excess skin is. I think the larger you were and the more skin you have the greater the chance of needing the vertical cut also. I know for me it was crucial to any kind of a decent result. But I did have at least 1 PS who said he wouldn't do it on me because it wasn't needed. Yeah right! <p>The inner thighs is a separate procedure known as a medial thigh lift. Here again, it varies what the surgeons will do. Some will only do the horizontal cut in the groin and pull up, other will do the who 9 yards and do the vertical cut up the inside of the leg also. Again, for me if I did not have the vertical cut it wasn't worth even considering surgery. Many many surgeon will not do the vertical cut because of post op issues. I am very pleased with the job my surgeon did. <p>My insurance fairly easily covered paying for the full extended abdominoplasty but denied the lateral thigh lift. I really could not argue what medical problems it was creating so I chose not to fight it. I did not even ask for coverage of the medial thigh lift. I paid for the lateral thigh lift, which was much less because it was done as a secondary procedure to the first stage of the abdominoplasty. It doesn't hurt to try for the whole thing, but be prepared for part of it to be denied, if not all of it. Not to many insurances want to cover plastics.
   — zoedogcbr

January 25, 2005
I just had a lower body lift Dec 10th. It is the stomach, butt, and some hips (no thighs). The thighs will be the next procedure. You are cut around your whole entire lower body. My procedure went very well. Please remember everyone is different. Now after stating this, I was back to work within 4 weeks, had very little pain (scale from 1 -10, 10 being the worst I was a 3), no infections. I had 4 drains and they were all removed by 2 weeks. I was confined to my apartment for about a month (only walking around my dining room table, sleeping and reading were allowed. Had to have 24/7 care for the first 4 days (per doctor's orders). Sleeping was a bit unconfortable due to the incisions on my back side. E-mail me if you like for more details. Good Luck! Insurance covered most of the procedure due to medical problems with excess skin. Lost 180 lbs, down to 140.
   — Linda R.