The tummy tuck surgery – medically referred to as abdominoplasty – is surgery that has the intention of removing a patient's excess skin and fat from the stomach and, additionally, tightening the abdominal muscles to improve its appearance. Abdominoplasty will usually result in a patient having the benefit of a flatter and firmer abdomen and a slimmer waist. It has become one of the most common cosmetic surgery procedures on both sides of the Atlantic.

As with many cosmetic procedures at the current time, several differing varieties of abdominoplasty are commonly in use. The specialist surgeon will consider the individual requirements of each patient before deciding upon which method is going to prove to be the most suitable in each individual case.

Increasingly common nowadays is a procedure known as Endoscopic abdominoplasty, in which a miniature camera and small surgical instruments are introduced into the body through small incisions. Liposuction, to remove fat, can be performed at the same time. Because endoscopic abdominoplasty procedure cannot tighten loose skin, this is most suited for people who might have excessive abdominal fat but yet still have comparatively tight abdominal skin. Because of the size of the incisions, there is not much visible scarring with this procedure.

It might be feasible, if a patient is in need of skin and fat removal only, without an accompanying tightening of the muscles or repositioning of the navel, for a surgeon to carry out a Mini-tummy tuck, sometimes known as a Modified or a Partial Abdominoplasty. This procedure will result in a much shorter scar than a full tummy tuck.

A full tummy tuck is primarily considered for patients who have substantial amounts of fat to be removed as well as considerable areas of skin to be tightened. It is common for people having a full tummy tuck to have a ‘new' navel because of all the repositioning of the skin involved.

The full abdominoplasty involves an incision being made, from hip to hip, across the lower abdomen. Skin and fat are then loosened away from the muscles of the abdomen, another incision made below the navel, and all the skin and fat removed. The muscles can then be tightened and united and the skin from above the navel pulled downwards and stitched to the lower skin. It will then be necessary to create a new navel in the skin. This is clearly a highly invasive procedure, and can easily take up to five hours to perform on some patients, so it is possible a patient will experience considerable amounts of swelling and discomfort after the operation. The main scar produced by this procedure is usually below the bikini line.

The final common tummy tuck procedure is that known as a Dermolipectomy, the removal of excess amounts of fat and skin, frequently performed on patients who have had significant weight loss and therefore have large amounts of excess skin. This procedure also involves the repositioning of the navel. Where a patient has significant amounts of surplus skin around the waist, it might be possible to perform a Vertical Scar abdominoplasty.