A ^Retired Plastic Surgeon's Notebook

Seattle Plastic Surgeon observes that many of her tummy tuck patients have improved posture after surgery. These waistline close up photos show marked improvement in this tummy tuck patient’s posture. Tummy tuck is one of those great operations that improves both form and function. Removing the excess skin and fat makes the torso look betterContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon discusses one of life’s little surprises. I have seen 2 patients in the past week who had babies after having had a tummy tuck.  These were surprise pregnancies and both patients had been concerned about 1) the effect of their surgery on their baby and 2) the effect of their baby onContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon explains fat necrosis. Fat necrosis often gets much, much better with a little tincture of time and usually does not require reoperation.  It occurs most frequently in overweight patients who have a thick layer of fat.      Recently I re-operated on an abdominoplasty patient of mine for fat necrosis.  The term, fatContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon shares an article in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal that takes on the problem of food addiction in women. I am a bit of an expert on the subject of overeating.  I’ve been in practice over 20 years and many of my patients are women with “food issues.”  I always try to gently probeContinue reading…

There’s nothing that makes me wanna holler much more than an anatomically perfect patient for tummy tuck who smokes! Last week I saw two patients in one day who were both absolutely anatomically perfect patients for tummy tucks.  They were both done with child bearing, they were both thin and both had abdominal muscle separation and loose jelly belly skinContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon’s hunch confirmed by recent report – body lifting is in demand. I really, really like doing body contouring procedures on patients after massive weight loss.   There are many, many types of lifts that are done below the neck.  They include:  lower body lift, flank lift, mons lift, brachioplasty (upper arm lift), thighContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon blogs about the influence of body type on body contouring procedures. Short waisted on the left and long waisted on the right. It is super important for your plastic surgeon to be aware of body type when he or she undertakes a body contouring consultation.  A lovely hourglass waistline is on everyContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon finds (and fixes) umbilical hernias in about 20% of her tummy tuck patients.  I do a lot of abdominoplasties a.k.a. tummy tucks and I fix a lot of umbilical hernias.  Here’s how I approach this very common problem: During surgery, I carefully exaimine the umbilicus (that’s belly button in normal speech) to feel ifContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon blogs about the importance of distinguishing belly fat a.k.a. visceral fat from subcutaneous fat.  Pull up a chair.  This is going to be a long one. Abdominoplasty a.k.a. tummy tuck is a BIG operation and it is in every ones best interest to do everything possible to make sure that the surgeryContinue reading…

Seattle Plastic Surgeon recommends a WALKER for recovery from tummy tuck and body lift surgery. Years ago I did a body lift on a patient who had lost over 100 pounds.  She advised me to advise other patients to consider getting a walker for post surgical recovery.  She found it so much easier to getContinue reading…