Fleur-De-Lis Abdominoplasty

Back in August 2018, I went to see a plastic surgeon about getting skin removal on my stomach.  There were 3 reasons I wanted this done:

1. my liposuction surgeon didn’t want to go in and get the last 3 or 4 liters of lipedema fat via liposuction.  The fat was spread out enough in my lower stomach and the skin had become thin enough that he didn’t think liposuction was a safe alternative.  Since I wanted the skin removed anyways, he sent me off for a consultation to a plastic surgeon at the UMC Utrecht hospital that takes on difficult plastic surgery cases to see about having the fat just cut out with the skin.
2. the extra skin was pulling on my front and causing back pain.  Since fall 2017 I had been in intensive physical therapy to correct all the muscle issues improper posture caused.  I really didn’t have much choice because that’s the way the lipedema made me stand and walk.  To whomever out there that still thinks lipedema is cosmetic only, you can fuck right off.  So by ditching the extra weight on my front, my hope (and my fysio’s hope) is that my back will be back to 100%.  Through a lot of therapy and hard work in the gym it’s probably 80% right now as I type this but I have good and bad days.
3. the extra skin hanging in the front, the panni, reduces my range of motion.  I want full range of motion during my squats damnit! Also not having my stomach sit on my lap is a huge bonus.

So after talking to the plastic surgeon, he decided on doing a fleur-de-lis abdominoplasty while saving my belly button but not touching the stomach muscle.  The reason for the fleur-de-lis is so he could tighten the skin of my upper stomach as well.  It really does seem to be the right cut for someone with a lot of skin and extra fat still on their stomach.

What About the Lymph System?

One of the big questions I see time and time again in the lipedema groups is “what about the lymph system?” Is an abdominoplasty, tummy tuck or panniculectomy safe for our already impaired lymph systems? Yes!

The cut is done either at the belly button line or the bikini line, well away from the major lymph nodes.  Then the skin around the bottom cut is pulled up.  None of this affects our lymph system anymore than liposuction does.

The plastic surgeon recommended to me isn’t specifically a lipedema specialist in any way.  He knew of lipedema before meeting me and had worked on some other ladies over the years but he doesn’t specialize.  However, he was perfectly willing to answer my questions  about it and took care.  Especially with removing as much of the fat as humanly possible (he chose not to do any liposuction and will leave that to my lipo surgeon to do more if he feels the need later).

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PetraAnn

PetraAnn was first diagnosed with Lipedema in fall 2015 after years of eating keto and exercising with no weight loss results.After diagnosis, she has gone through 8 tumescent liposuction procedures from 2016 until 2018 and on 17 December 2019 underwent an abdominoplasty to remove the remaining 3-4 liters of lippy fat and loose skin.

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