All You Need To Know About a Tummy Tuck: Before and After Photos, Videos, and More (Updated 2025)

A tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty, removes loose, stretched skin from the lower belly and tightens the underlying ab muscles. The result is improved body contours and a smoother, flatter abdomen. A tummy tuck is a transformative procedure that helps many of our NYC patients feel more confident, trim, and fit.

In this post, I highlight my patients’ tummy tuck before and after photos, revealing how dramatically the procedure transforms the body and explaining how it addresses separated ab muscles, hernias, and more. I also cover topics such as insurance coverage, ideal body weight for the procedure, and more. You can use the links below to jump to the topic that interests you or read through the post to learn more about tummy tuck surgery.

How Is a Tummy Tuck Performed?

I create a long incision from one hip across the lower tummy to the other hip like a big “smile.” I separate (undermine) the skin of the abdomen from the underlying tissues as I work along the muscles of the tummy upward to the bellybutton. I create another small incision around the umbilicus (bellybutton) so it can stay where it is as I undermine the upper tummy skin. This gives me great exposure to all the abdominal wall muscles, which I then suture closer together like a corset.

I then pull the upper tummy skin down to the lower tummy’s incision. I remove the excess skin, close the wound, and bring the bellybutton through a small hole in the middle of the belly. The following video explains the procedure in more depth; you can view this and more on our YouTube Channel.

Tummy Tuck After Pregnancy

Young mothers are the classic patients for a tummy tuck. After pregnancy’s storm of prostaglandins and hormonal surges, an otherwise fit woman can be left with a loose abdominal wall and attenuated skin, complete with stretch marks. Even the breasts seem to become deflated and “disappear” as glandular volume diminishes. This combination of body contouring with breast enhancement (usually breast augmentation with or without a breast lift) is commonly called a mommy makeover.

Exercise and Diet May Not Flatten Your Tummy

Patients can do very little about some of these tummy pooch problems. Some women bounce back after pregnancy as if nothing ever happened. These are the genetically lucky ones among us. Be happy for them, but don’t let them make you feel like you’re not working hard enough to get similar results.  

For many women, exercise and dieting alone will not get rid of stretch marks or bring the abdominal muscles together so that the tummy is flat again. Think of separated abdominal muscles like a broken bone that is not set in place. If the bone isn’t lined up correctly, it will heal crookedly. The same goes for the tummy muscles—if you don’t put them back where they belong, all the exercise in the world won’t help you get a flatter tummy.

My patient shown below is a triathlete. Despite her very aggressive exercise regimen, her lower tummy bulged. She also had loose skin, and her breasts had gotten smaller. I performed a mommy makeover for her that included a tummy tuck and modest silicone breast implants.

My Doctor Said I Have a “Diastasis” After My Twins

There is an actual medical diagnosis for women who have a dramatic separation of their abdominal muscles: diastasis recti. However, the repair is absolutely not covered by insurance. There isn’t even a billable code for it, and the repair is considered cosmetic.

Still, diastasis recti repair is a standard part of a tummy tuck, and it is regularly performed for women who simply can’t get their body back, no matter how much diet and exercise they do. The patient below said that her husband, close friends, and family all told her she looked “fine.” Nobody wants to look “fine;” we all want to look “hot!”

Tummy Tuck With Hernia Repair

As the photos below show, we can often repair a hernia during tummy tuck surgery. In fact, it is common for a patient to pay an extra fee to the hospital, anesthesiologist, and surgeon to have the procedures combined in order to have a single operation and recovery period. General surgeons love this combination because the plastic surgeon gives them exposure to their hernia, which is not possible using standard techniques.

Will Insurance Pay for My Tummy Tuck If I Have a Hernia?

Probably not. A tummy tuck is considered a cosmetic operation that has little to do with the vast majority of hernia surgeries. Yes, there are times when we have legitimate reasons to perform and bill an insurance company for a tummy tuck performed at the same time as a hernia surgery. These situations are rare and need to be fairly extreme. Furthermore, some insurance companies will refuse to pay ANY of the charges, including the hernia repair, if the tummy tuck is performed together with the “necessary” procedures.

Can a Tummy Tuck Be Combined With Liposuction Safely?

Liposuction is commonly performed with tummy tucks to provide additional body contouring benefits, though the quality of your results often depends on your provider and surgical plan. As a board-certified plastic surgeon, I prefer to perform a proper tummy tuck with limited liposuction of the upper abdominal groove, flanks, and/or back.

In the rare cases that I need to, I can return to do some good liposuction on the abdomen itself about 3 months later. However, these cases are few and far between. This plan is more common in patients who are significantly overweight.

Can an Obese Person Have a Tummy Tuck?

While a tummy tuck can be done in patients who are obese, the procedure is a little more risky and complications are more common. For instance, the incidence of infection, delayed healing, and seroma (a fluid collection under the skin) are dramatically higher in patients who are significantly overweight. A growing body of literature correlates a patient’s higher body mass index (BMI) with a variety of complications.

Depending on your BMI, your eligibility for cosmetic surgery may vary. Keep in mind that a tummy tuck is NOT intended for weight loss. Your plastic surgeon and physician will help you determine whether you are a good candidate for a tummy tuck.

Tummy Tuck Surgery After Weight Loss

One of the more common indications for a tummy tuck is someone who has achieved dramatic weight loss, whether through bariatric surgery, diet and exercise alone, or weight loss injections. No matter how the patient loses weight, they all seem to have one common problem: excess skin. That skin can cause a lot of trouble, including rashes, back pain, and trouble ambulating. Many of these folks need more than a tummy tuck, they need a lower body lift (you can see some of my patients’ lower body lift results in these before and after pictures.) But let’s limit this discussion to tummy tuck patients.

Fleur-de-Lis Tummy Tuck

Sometimes, patients have excess horizontal skin in addition to the excess vertical skin that a standard tummy tuck can address. In these cases, I will offer them the option of a vertical scar that allows me to remove that extra tissue as well. Think of this operation as a tailoring procedure where we are moving the buttons out wider on your shirt in addition to tucking your shirt in.  

The use of a fleur-de-lis is more common if patients already have a scar on their tummy because they really don’t have to sacrifice much at all. Even though the scar will be visible, many patients accept it because it will help them fit into clothing dramatically better.

Tummy Tuck for Men

While the operation is less common in men, tummy tucks can be a huge asset for them as well. I find it most common in men who have lost a lot of weight. Again, this is often associated with bariatric surgery or weight loss injections, but it is not necessarily so. A lot of men find themselves overweight, one day looking down at their bellies and deciding it’s time to get in shape. And they do! Unfortunately, they can also end up with extra skin that just won’t go away. You can tone muscle, but you can’t tone skin.

A male tummy tuck incision is shaped differently than a woman’s. The female version has more of a smile; for men, we keep the scar a little higher in the middle and lower on the sides. It’s a bit more of a flat scar.

Many times, these men also have “man boobs,” or what doctors call gynecomastia. Sometimes, liposuction of the chest can get rid of this breast-like tissue. It can also be combined with a tummy tuck in a single, safe, convenient procedure.

The Tummy Tuck Bellybutton

Philosophically, I believe that the most important structure in the tummy tuck operation is the bellybutton. I routinely spend 20 to 30 minutes on that part of the procedure alone. While some of my colleagues tease me a bit for what seems like an unreasonable amount of time to spend at the end of the operation, I think the attention to detail on the umbilicus is what matters most to the final cosmetic outcome. After all, the bellybutton is the only part of a tummy tuck operation that the outside world should be able to see. It certainly seems worth the effort.

Recovery After a Tummy Tuck

I have another blog post about tummy tuck recovery, so I will keep this to a minimum. Abdominoplasty patients can expect discomfort to peak by Day 3, with stiffness, tightness, and swelling being the most common ailments.

I routinely see my patients on postoperative Day 5. When they arrive, and I ask them how they are feeling, they almost universally answer, “Better.” Don’t get me wrong, they are not ready to run any marathons yet, but they are clearly up and about on their own. It seems typical for patients to need 2 to 3 recovery weeks to reach the point where they feel completely like themselves with only minor aches and pains.

Individual healing rates can vary, but most patients can expect this 2- to 3-week initial recovery period, with 6 to 8 weeks of downtime before resuming most activities. Patients are typically more focused on their drain removal than when they can take their next pain pill, which brings us to whether post-surgical drains are necessary.

Do I Need a Drain for a Tummy Tuck?

The short answer is, “Yes, I think you do.” While some practices may offer drain-free tummy tucks, the standard of care remains to leave a drain in place for a procedure with this much undermining involved. The drain keeps you safe from fluid collection; however, it can lead to infection if not properly cared for. To be safe, I typically remove drains by Days 7 to 10.

A Tummy Tuck Is a Good Thing

When done for the right reasons, a tummy tuck dramatically improves a patient’s self-esteem and helps them feel more confident. It can make them feel like themselves again and allow them to move on to more important concerns in their lives. Being able to wear clothes they love and enjoy everyday moments without self-consciousness feels like true freedom to many people. Many of my patients don’t realize how these insecurities have held them back until they have their abdominoplasty.

If you fit into any of the categories of patients I’ve described above, I encourage you to consider a (very safe) tummy tuck operation. Good luck!

New York City plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas P. Sterry serves Manhattan and the surrounding areas. If you’re considering tummy tuck surgery, please request a consultation using our online form or call us at (212) 249-4020.

This blog post was originally written in December 2016 and updated in April 2025.