How Are the Tummy Muscles Tightened After Tummy Tuck Surgery?

A tummy tuck is a surgical procedure that tightens the loose skin
around the abdomen. The procedure can also remove loose skin, fat, and
soft tissue from the love handle areas. The muscles under and around
the belly button can be tightened as needed. These are the muscles
that can only be tightened with surgery.The rectus abdominis muscles
or "six pack" muscles go up and down, next to your belly button. You
may notice the "six pack" on very thin and fit men and women. When you
are born, these muscles are next to each other, and meet in the middle
of your tummy.If you gain and then lose a lot of weight, or if you
become pregnant the muscles slightly separate, you may notice that
your tummy bulges out slightly in the middle despite diet and
exercise. This slight separation is called a diastasis. If you are
relatively fit and thin, and you still have loose tummy skin and loose
abdominal muscles in that area, then you may need your rectus
abdominis muscles tightened during your tummy tuck procedure to
prevent any laxity in that area.During your tummy tuck operation, the
right and left rectus abdominis muscles are sutured together, which
pulls the muscles back into their original positions. Not all patients
need this extra procedure, and each individual case is different. Some
patients have very little separation despite many children, and some
individuals have wide separation of their muscles despite having only
1 child and no weight gain or loss in their lifetime.The suture used
during this muscle tightening is typically permanent, strong material.
There are usually at least 2 sutures to close this diastasis, this
ensures that even if 1 suture fails, another one is ready to hold it
together.