Abdominal Panniculectomy

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in getting a tummy tuck but don’t know too much about it. What type of tummy tuck do I need? Should I try and lose more weight before? Although with my back injury and being on disability I don’t see any significant weight loss happening. I have attached some pictures of my overhanging stomach for your review.

Abdominal Panniculectomy result side view Dr Barry Eppley IndianapolisA: Thank you for sending your pictures. What you have is a large abdominal pannus and thick abdominal tissues. What you would ultimately need is really an abdominal panniculectomy rather than a classic tummy yuck. Your abdominal tissues are too thick an your weight is too high to do accomplish anything more than an extended abdominal panniculectomy. While such a procedure would clearly have great benefit, ideally you should lose a lot more weight to have the better abdominal reshaping procedure. But for many patients weight loss is difficult and an abdominal panniculectomy now is better than nothing at all. That would have to be a decision that only you can make and I think with your back injury that decision has already been made.

You should clearly understand that an abdominal panniculectomy is not the same as a tummy tuck. It is a less refined although larger amount of abdominal tissue removal whose main objective is to eliminate the overhanging abdominal tissues.

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana