A tummy tuck is a surgical procedure that tightens the loose skin around the abdomen.
The procedure can also remove loose skin, fat, and soft tissue from the love handle areas.
The muscles under and around the belly button can be tightened as needed.
These are the muscles that can only be tightened with surgery.
The rectus abdominis muscles or "six pack" muscles go up and down, next to your belly button.
You may notice the "six pack" on very thin and fit men and women.
When you are born, these muscles are next to each other, and meet in the middle of your tummy.
If you gain and then lose a lot of weight, or if you become pregnant the muscles slightly separate, you may notice that your tummy bulges out slightly in the middle despite diet and exercise.
This slight separation is called a diastasis.
If you are relatively fit and thin, and you still have loose tummy skin and loose abdominal muscles in that area, then you may need your rectus abdominis muscles tightened during your tummy tuck procedure to prevent any laxity in that area.
During your tummy tuck operation, the right and left rectus abdominis muscles are sutured together, which pulls the muscles back into their original positions.
Not all patients need this extra procedure, and each individual case is different.
Some patients have very little separation despite many children, and some individuals have wide separation of their muscles despite having only 1 child and no weight gain or loss in their lifetime.
The suture used during this muscle tightening is typically permanent, strong material.
There are usually at least 2 sutures to close this diastasis, this ensures that even if 1 suture fails, another one is ready to hold it together.