Highest BMI for Tummy Tuck Patients who are most likely to benefit from a tummy tuck procedure have a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or more. The BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in pounds by your height in inches squared; the resulting number can then be multiplied by 703 to calculate your BMI.
On average, a person with a BMI of 35 will be about 30 pounds overweight and 5’3″ tall. This person could expect to lose about 10-15 pounds after having a tummy tuck because they would no longer have any excess skin that needs to be removed. A higher BMI means that the patient has more fat than muscle, which means there will be more skin left over after surgery. Unfortunately, there is no set cutoff point at which a patient should be refused surgery because of their high BMI. Each patient’s situation is different and must be considered on an individual basis.
Read on to learn more about Highest Bmi For Tummy Tuck, What Is BMI and How It Affects Surgery Results?
Tummy Tuck or Abdominoplasty is a procedure that flattens your waist by eliminating extra fat and skin while also tightening the muscles in your tummy. Losing weight for surgery and being at an ideal weight for tummy tuck is important to maximise the surgical outcome and reduce surgical risks.
Being overweight can negatively impact your self-esteem and confidence, which can inhibit you from participating in social gatherings. In spite of following strict diets and performing heavy exercises, losing excess skin can be a herculean task. While you may have good muscle mass, the excess fat and skin surrounding the muscle underneath may result in unappealing body contour. Abdominoplasty surgery helps to recontour the body and improve your body aesthetics.
If you experienced pregnancy or huge weight loss before, you may have stretch marks due to skin and muscle stretching. Many topical treatments, skin tightening tools and scar removal creams are available in the market but not really effective. Tummy Tuck after weight loss can be a good option for you if you are seeking to tighten your loose belly or treat diastasis recti after pregnancy.
Plastic surgeons highly recommend their patients to be near ideal weight or Body Mass Index (BMI) prior to the surgery.
Benefits of Recommended BMI for Tummy Tuck
- Ideal weight helps faster recovery because obesity impedes wound healing
- Low surgical complications
- Less postoperative pain and infection
- Maintained body contour long after the surgery
- Sustained achievement of targeted goals long after the surgery
Consider that BMI is not enough to evaluate if you’re a good candidate for a tummy tuck. Since BMI does not take into account muscle mass, body proportions, age, and sex, it is sometimes not accurate for measuring body fat.
What BMI Is Good for Tummy Tuck?
BMI below 30 considered as an ideal BMI for tummy tuck, but you can have a tummy tuck with good results even if you are overweight. BMI 35 is the maximum acceptable BMI for tummy tuck. One thing that you should keep in your mind is the closer you are to your BMI, the better the final result you can get.
Most surgeons would not perform tummy tuck if your BMI is greater than 40. However, some surgeons do not operate even if your BMI is greater than 30 due to surgical and anaesthesia risk. If your BMI is between 30 and 40, it’s important to consult your surgeon to determine your suitability for surgery.
If you lose additional weight after surgery, then your abdominal skin will again become saggy and you will have to undergo tummy tuck again. So, it will be better if you first lose weight as much as possible, then consider undergoing tummy tuck surgery.
Why BMI Is Important for Surgery?
Lose weight for surgery and attaining a healthy weight before undergoing plastic surgery will enhance your surgery results. More importantly, achieving a recommended BMI will minimise the risks associated with both the anaesthesia and the procedure itself.
In fact, patients with a BMI over 30 are at greater risk during any surgery, not just cosmetic procedures. Besides, obese clients often have other health issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, and joint problems, which are further drawbacks for surgery.
What Is the Ideal Weight for Tummy Tuck?
The ideal weight for tummy tuck is when you are around 5-7kg from your goal weight. This is important as weight loss after tummy tuck or gaining weight can undo the contour achieved through your surgery.
The exact weight can vary based on your height, age and gender, but most plastic surgeons rely on you to be close to your target goal weight as the ideal weight you should be prior to tummy tuck.
What Is BMI and How It Affects Surgery Results?
A Body Mass Index or BMI is a value to classify and categorize whether a person lies within a healthy body weight or in layman’s terms. BMI is a value to characterize a person as underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese based on tissue mass and height. The BMI compares your body weight² (kg) over your height² (m²) to gain a value that gives us a general estimate of your health. However, this is not an absolute depiction of your current health status as it doesn’t take your gender, age, existing health conditions, or body definitions into consideration.
General BMI ranges are as below:
- Underweight – BMI below 18
- Healthy Weight – Between18 and 25
- Overweight – Between 25 and 30
- Obese – Between 30 and 35
- Severely Obese – Between 35 and 40
- Morbidly Obese – Over 40
As your BMI will determine the results from the surgery that includes how long your surgery results will persist and how aesthetically pleasing they look. The maximum allowed BMI for plastic surgery is 40, Dr prefers BMI closer to 30.
Risks of Having Surgery with Overweight BMI
Anesthetics are medications that put patients to sleep during the surgery. During the administration of anesthetics, obesity can cause patients the following common problems;
Figuring out the correct dosage of anesthetics required.
Locating the vein used to administer anaesthetics and other emergency medications intravenously.
The presence of excess fatty tissue can further hinder with the administration of the medication.
Difficulty while inserting the breathing tube.
How to Lose Weight Before Surgery
If your BMI is anywhere from 18 to 30, you can continue with your regular meals before the surgery. However, in cases where the BMI is above 40, the rapid weight loss diet program can be undertaken. In this type of diet, you can lose more than 1-2.5 kilograms a week over several weeks.
These diets help to lose weight for surgery quickly and are less commonly suggested by health care providers. As the hormonal and bodily stress caused by rapid weight loss may not be safe for some people to do on their own they should be closely monitored by a supervisor.
*Here you can find some diet for quick weight loss before surgery, but they are usually not recommended for more than several weeks.