A mom of two in her 20s, Tiffany had been considering a tummy tuck for a long time.
“It didn’t matter how much I exercised or how much weight I lost,” says Tiffany. “I always had it – I called it my zip code – around my waist and it bothered me.”
Her concerns about pain, time off work and exercise, and overall cost prevented her from closing the surgery. However, when she got some windfall, her husband urged her to explore the option, saying, “You’ve always wanted to do this.”
Tiffany started researching online and looking for stories on Facebook. She booked consultations with several surgeons, some of whom seemed impatient with her “long” list of questions. However, when she met plastic surgeon Heidi Hon, MD, Tiffany knew she had found the right person to perform her tummy tuck.
“It made me feel so comfortable with the process,” she says. “She was very kind and joked with me about so many questions, but she was so patient and answered them all. I didn’t get the sense that she felt I was wasting her time.”
Dr. Hohn recalls Tiffany’s questions about choosing a drain or no drain procedure, her pain management, and various risk factors. “Going through each of those things, helping to manage expectations, I think, is ultimately why she decided to have surgery with me,” says Dr. Hon. “Taking the time to listen and thoroughly answer her questions was very important to her.”
After they met, Tiffany took the plunge and scheduled the surgery she had wanted for years.
The process
In December 2021, Tiffany and her husband traveled to Bellevue Medical Center for her tummy tuck. They arrived at 6 a.m. and Tiffany says she was “nervous, but calm at the same time.”
During the procedure, Dr. Hohn tightened Tiffany’s abdominal muscles with stitches and removed excess skin. Because Tiffany preferred a procedure without drainage, Dr. Hon used stitches to hold the abdominal wall together and prevent fluid from accumulating.
Like most of Dr.’s patients. Hon, Tiffany chose to pay extra for a transverse abdominal plane, or TAP, nerve block injection, which helps control pain after surgery.
Tiffany says she was relatively pain free after her surgery and the only slightly annoying aspect was that she had to walk with a little hunch at first.
“I don’t know if I have a high pain tolerance or if the shot made a big difference or both.” she says. “But the shot was worth every extra penny.”
Recovery
Tiffany and her husband returned home by noon, where she spent most of the day sleeping. As each day passed, he felt better and better.
Apart from initially having to walk with a slight hunch and regain her strength after the anaesthetic, Tiffany says there were no embarrassing after-effects. She took two weeks off work, but felt physically recovered enough to return to work after a week.
“I had the best experience,” he says. “I was off the painkillers within two or three days and was never in pain. I was never afraid of not feeling well.”
As for her initial fears about downtime and returning to exercise, she needn’t have worried. He was walking for exercise within four to five days and started running again at six weeks.
Dr. Hohn says it usually takes four to six weeks for most patients to feel like themselves again. While walking is acceptable at first, he asks patients to delay heavier exercise to allow for healing.
Results
Before
After
A year and a half later, Tiffany says her only complaint about her tummy tuck is that she wishes she had done it sooner.
“I feel a lot better,” he says. “I’m glad to walk around the house naked, whereas before I didn’t want to be naked. Clothes are easy to shop for and fit better. I wish I had done it 15 or 20 years ago so I could have enjoyed it more. But I just love it.”
Dr. Hohn says it’s a sentiment she often hears from her patients.
“I think people are a little scared because of the pain and the downtime,” he says. “But I think patients are generally very happy after doing it.”
