Abdominoplasty in Brescia: a flat abdomen, where hard work was not enough.

Through the diagnosis, which comes before the technique. Abdominoplasty is the answer when the main change is excess skin and separated rectus muscles: it removes redundant skin from the lower abdomen, repairs the diastasis and repositions the navel, and it involves a significant scar, designed to stay hidden by underwear. Liposuction is the answer when the fat is localised and the skin still has reasonable tone. A patient who asks for an abdominoplasty, but whose problem is only localised fat, will be advised to have liposuction, and vice versa. When the two components coexist, there is lipoabdominoplasty, which combines reshaping of the flanks with correction of the abdominal wall.

Abdominoplasty at Palazzo Manzoni is handled by Dr. Stefano Di Nonno, specialist in General Surgery with a master’s degree in Aesthetic Surgery and the department’s lead surgeon for liposuction and body surgery, within the plastic surgery department headed by Dr. Enrico Motta. The same surgeon handles the consultation, the procedure and the follow-up visits.

Rectus diastasis (diastasis recti) is a separation of the two rectus abdominis muscles along the midline, common after pregnancy. It produces a central bulge that is visible when you sit up from lying down or when you strain. A simple physical test during the consultation, and an ultrasound scan where useful, confirm the diagnosis and its width. A mild diastasis often improves with appropriate postnatal physiotherapy in the first year. A persistent, wide or symptomatic diastasis is an indication for surgery.

Low and horizontal, designed to stay hidden by underwear; a full abdominoplasty also leaves a scar around the navel, which is repositioned. When the excess is limited to the abdomen below the navel, a mini abdominoplasty allows a shorter scar. It remains a significant scar, and its position is a planning priority: it is defined at your visit, based on your anatomy. It matures over twelve months, and scar quality is partly down to biology.

A full abdominoplasty requires two to three weeks before light work and six weeks before high-impact activities; the scar reaches full maturity at twelve months. A mini abdominoplasty, being more limited, takes from ten days to two weeks. The procedure is carried out as day surgery. The pathway involves a period of reduced social activity, with the compression garment worn as instructed, check-ups scheduled at the intervals your procedure requires and a direct line to your surgeon in the meantime. Every plan you take home includes a written recovery calendar, specific to your procedure.

For a procedure performed on a patient close to her stable weight and in a stable life situation, yes: the change in contour is lasting, and the repair of the abdominal wall addresses a mechanical problem, the diastasis, that no exercise would have closed. If, on the other hand, you are still actively losing or gaining weight, or are planning a pregnancy in the near future, the result will be altered by those later changes: this is one of the reasons why the advice is sometimes to wait. We discuss this at the consultation.

Yes, and it often is: lipoabdominoplasty combines reshaping of the flanks with correction of the abdominal wall, so that the profile is treated through 360 degrees in a single procedure, and correction of the wall can include repair of umbilical or epigastric hernias, in collaboration with the general surgeon when indicated. The usual limit still applies, however: each additional procedure lengthens the operating time and increases the physiological load, and beyond a certain threshold the combined risk profile outweighs the benefit. What to combine is decided case by case during the consultation, based on the total operating time, the overall volume of liposuction and your health.

A mini abdominoplasty starts from €6,000 and a full abdominoplasty from €10,000; a lipoabdominoplasty ranges from €12,000 to €15,000 and an abdominoplasty with mesh reinforcement of the abdominal wall starts from €14,000, all inclusive. The exact figure depends on the complexity of the case: repair of umbilical or epigastric hernias, for example, may require the collaboration of the general surgeon. Once the procedure has been recommended, you receive a detailed written quote, with no hidden costs. The department does not negotiate on price and does not apply promotions to surgery. All prices are on the plastic surgery costs page.