While abdominal issues are common in older women, they can be addressed and corrected by an experienced plastic surgeon. A plastic surgeon can combine liposuction and tummy tuck procedures to greatly improve the look of your abdominal area.

While many women believe that abdominal liposuction and a tummy tuck procedure are interchangeable with each other, nothing could really be farther from the truth.

It is vitally important that you and you plastic surgeon work together on determining the correct procedure for your specific needs. However, before you contact your plastic surgeon's office to schedule a consultation, here is some information on both procedures to get you started on understanding which procedure is right for you ...

Who Should Have a Tummy Tuck?

While a tummy tuck is a much more invasive and expensive procedure than liposuction, you will find the results much more satisfying if a tummy tuck is the correct procedure for your situation.

In order to meet the criteria, you will likely need to meet some (or all) of the conditions below:

* Excess fat in your abdominal area
* Excess skin on your abdominal area which either sags or has an over-hang
* Laxity of your abdominal skin caused by previous pregnancy, age, or weight gain or loss.
* Bulging of the true abdominal wall caused by pregnancy
* Bulging of the abdominal area caused by being over-weight.

The only way to deal with each of the above issues effectively is through a tummy tuck. While liposuction can remove small amounts of fat, it will not correct the abdominal wall and muscle damage from pregnancy, large weight loss or the aging process.

Who Should Have Liposuction?

Only patients who have a small amount of excess fat and good tone of the skin of their abdominal area should consider liposuction as an alternative. It is also imperative that you have no bulging of the abdominal wall muscle or excess abdominal skin which is lax.

In order to be an appropriate candidate for liposuction alone, most surgeons will consider ...

* If you are over-weight, or only slightly over-weight
* If you have ever been pregnant
* Your age
* If you have ever lost large amounts of weight

As you can see, there is a clear difference in criteria between abdominal liposuction and a tummy tuck. By meeting with a Board Certified plastic surgeon in your area for consultation, you can choose the procedure which will yield you the best end result.