Atlanta Tummy Tuck Doctors is a team of highly-skilled medical professionals dedicated to providing the best possible care for their patients. Our doctors have years of experience performing tummy tucks, breast augmentations, and other cosmetic procedures to help you look your best. We work with people from all backgrounds who want to feel better about themselves.
We know that getting a tummy tuck or any other cosmetic procedure can be an intimidating prospect. That’s why it’s our mission to make your experience as welcoming and safe as possible. Our staff has been trained in all aspects of patient care, including communication skills, so we can provide you with the information you need before choosing an Atlanta Tummy Tuck Doctor right here on our website!
Tummy Tuck in Atlanta, GA, and Alpharetta, GA, with Dr. Alderman
We all want a flat stomach, but diet and exercise alone often cannot accomplish this goal. Dr. Amy Alderman has performed many successful tummy tucks in Buckhead Atlanta and Alpharetta, finally helping her patients achieve a flatter, tighter abdomen.
If you have worked hard to reduce your stomach but still find that you have excess skin and fat in the abdominal area, an abdominoplasty may be the answer for you. The result is better fitting clothes, a smooth contour, and improved self-confidence
What Can Abdominoplasty Do for Me?
Abdominoplasty can:
- Flatten a round stomach
- Reduce love handles
- Remove lax skin in the abdominal area
- Correct stretched, separated, or weakened abdominal muscles (a condition that often occurs post-pregnancy)
- Improve lower back pain
- Help you feel better about your body
Request a Consultation
If you’re in the Atlanta or Alpharetta areas and have any questions about a Tummy Tuck or wish to schedule a consultation for a Tummy Tuck with Dr. Alderman, please contact our office.REQUEST A CONSULTATION
Am I a Good Candidate for Abdominoplasty?
Abdominoplasty is best for people who have both excess fat and skin in the abdominal area. If you have no lax skin, but only excess fat, liposuction alone may be sufficient to give you the flatter stomach you want.
Abdominoplasty is often part of a mommy makeover for women who have excess skin and fat as a result of pregnancy. However, it is best to postpone this procedure until after you are finished having children as a subsequent pregnancy could create the need for an additional tummy tuck.
Your Options for Abdominoplasty
For some patients, a mini-abdominoplasty is appropriate to correct the excess skin below the belly button. Tummy tuck surgery has a minimal downtime of about four days and can be combined with liposuction of the abdominal area. A mini-abdominoplasty is often perfect for the mom of young kids or the working professional who needs a short recovery.
Most patients who have had children require repair of the muscle separation (muscle diastasis). This can be performed through a full abdominoplasty where the lower abdominal skin is removed and the belly button is repositioned to a new location. A small proportion of patients do not have excess skin, and the muscle repair can be performed through a mini-abdominoplasty incision with no scar around the belly button. When the muscles are repaired, the patient generally requires a two-week recovery with a gradual return to exercise.
For some patients, muscle repair is not required, but excess skin above and below the belly button is present. The abdominal skin can be tightened with scars similar to a full abdominoplasty, but muscle repair is not necessary. This procedure is perfect for the working professional who has not had children. The downtime is minimal and similar to a mini-abdominoplasty. Most patients can return to work in four to five days.
What Is A ‘Drainless’ Tummy Tuck?
In some cases, Dr. Alderman can perform your surgery without the need for a drain. A drain is a very small tube that sits under your skin and allows fluid from swelling to collect in a small drainage bulb. The drains are typically removed one week after surgery. For some patients, particularly those who do not need a lot of liposuction, Dr. Alderman can perform your procedure without drains. She uses progressive tension or quilting sutures to secure the skin back down to your muscles and alleviate any areas where fluid or swelling can accumulate.
Tummy Tuck Surgery Aftercare: Post-Treatment Comfort
Dr. Alderman makes every effort possible to decrease patients’ discomfort after tummy tuck surgery. Many patients have concerns about the overuse of narcotics, which has become a national epidemic. For any plastic surgery procedures that are associated with more discomfort, such as the tummy tuck, Dr. Alderman offers Exparel, which is a long-acting anesthetic that offers pain relief for two to three days. In addition, she uses an ERAS pain protocol to enhance post-operative recovery. ERAS stands for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery and is a protocol for surgical pain management that utilizes a combination of several non-narcotic medications to alleviate your discomfort. Many of these medications are started prior to your surgery so that the medications are at an optimal level in your system for pain control when surgery begins. Frequently, Dr. Alderman’s tummy tuck patients tell her how surprised they are by the lack of discomfort after surgery, and many patients avoid narcotics completely. Using the ERAS pain protocol, patients are less nauseated, less constipated, have better pain relief, and avoid the risk of narcotic addiction.
Meet Dr. Alderman
Dr. Amy Alderman is a nationally known, board-certified plastic surgeon located in Buckhead near Atlanta. As a female surgeon and mother of two children, she provides a unique perspective to patient care. Each surgical plan is individually tailored to each patient’s needs and lifestyles and is aimed at enhancing her patient’s natural beauty and restoring confidence. She is known for her personal approach to patient care and has unparalleled commitment to patient safety, which can be attributed to years of education, professional experience and involvement in national patient safety initiatives.MEET DR. ALDERMAN
Preventing Risks of Tummy Tucks – Providing the Safest Care Possible
Dr. Alderman is nationally known for her efforts to reduce surgical risk. She is a frequent lecturer at national meetings on measures that lower patients’ risks of complications with body contouring surgery. One area of particular interest to her is the prevention of blood clots. In her practice, all patients undergo a risk assessment scale for blood clots. Patients at increased risk are treated with Lovenox, a type of blood thinner, for one to two weeks.
This approach has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of blood clots for surgical patients. Additional measures such as sequential compression devices (boots that squeeze your legs) are placed on all patients during surgery. With aggressive pain management such as the use of Exparel, and the ERAS pain protocol, patients are able to ambulate (move around) sooner, which also reduces the risk of blood clots.
In addition, we abide by current national standards to reduce the risk of infection. All patients receive a dose of antibiotics on the day of tummy tuck surgery, prior to the creation of incisions. The surgical site is irrigated with antibiotic solution, and patients are often placed on oral antibiotics after surgery, depending on the procedure.
What Happens During the Tummy Tuck Procedure?
Abdominoplasty usually requires general anesthesia (administered by Dr. Aida Joiner, board-certified anesthesiologist), and the surgery takes 2-4 hours depending on the individual. Incisions depend on the extent of your surgery. A full tummy tuck procedure involves an incision under the bikini line across the abdomen from hip to hip. Since it is low in the pubic area, the scar will remain hidden under clothing – even bathing suits.
For those who require less extensive surgery, Dr. Alderman can sometimes use a shorter incision. This is best suited for people who have a small amount of loose skin and do not need the abdominal muscles tightened.
During the tummy tuck surgery, Dr. Alderman removes excess skin and uses liposuction to remove excess fat. This involves inserting a cannula (tube) that is attached to a device that suctions the fat from the body. She also tightens stretched muscles, if necessary, and repositions the belly button. Her goal is to contour the area so that it is tighter and flatter.
After surgery, your incisions are sutured and dressed. In some cases, drains may be placed within the incisions to capture fluids. These will be removed within a week. Dr. Alderman uses advanced techniques that make it possible to perform drain-free surgeries in many cases.
What Will the Scar Look Like?
Dr. Alderman will try to keep your scar as low as possible so that ideally it can be hidden in a bathing suit. The length of the scar depends on how much excess skin you have. The more skin, the longer the scar. After surgery, you will be placed in a scar treatment regimen managed by Dr. Alderman. This regimen generally lasts 6 months to optimize your results. The regimen consists of a particular type of surgical tape and followed by silicone products. Sunscreen for a year is important. In addition, lasers in her medical spa can assist for scars that are taking longer to fade.
What Can I Expect During Recovery from a Tummy Tuck?
For a few weeks, you will wear a compression garment that will aid in the healing process. After 24 hours, we will ask you to walk several times throughout the day to encourage circulation and prevent blood clotting. As long as your work is not strenuous, you should be able to return to work within 4-5 days or 1-2 weeks, depending on the type of abdominoplasty you received. You can resume exercise and lifting in 4-6 weeks.
Your abdomen will be flatter right away, but the swelling will resolve slowly over a period of about 6 months. You will then see your final results. Dr. Alderman does everything she can to keep scarring to a minimum. The scar is low in the groin area, and it will improve over time, becoming smoother and less prominent.
Most importantly, Dr. Alderman will monitor your progress in follow-up examinations and will be available to answer your questions as you heal.