A mom of two kids in their 20s, Tiffany had been thinking about abdominoplasty, or “tummy tuck,” for a long time.

“It didn’t matter how much I worked out or how much weight I lost,” Tiffany says. “I always had that — I called it my zip code — around my waist, and it bothered me.”

Her concerns around pain, downtime from work and exercise and overall cost kept her from booking the surgery. However, when she came into some unexpected money, her husband urged her to explore the option, saying, “You’ve always wanted to do this.”

Tiffany started researching online and seeking out stories on Facebook. She booked consultations with several surgeons, some of whom seemed impatient with her “foot-long” list of questions. However, when she met plastic surgeon Heidi Hon, MD, Tiffany knew she’d found the right person to perform her tummy tuck.

“She made me feel so comfortable with the process,” she says. “She was very gracious and joked with me about having so many questions but was so patient and answered them all. I didn’t get the sense that she felt I was wasting her time.”

Dr. Hon recalls Tiffany's questions about choosing a drain or drainless procedure, managing her pain, and various risk factors. “Going through each one of those things, helping to manage expectations, I think, is ultimately why she decided to have surgery with me,” Dr. Hon says. “Spending the time listening and thoroughly answering her questions was really important to her.”

After they met, Tiffany took the plunge and scheduled the surgery she’d been wanting for years.

The procedure

In December 2021, Tiffany and her husband traveled to the 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. Hon tightened Tiffany’s abdominal muscles with sutures and removed excess skin. Because Tiffany preferred a drainless procedure, Dr. Hon used sutures to hold down the abdominal wall and prevent fluid from accumulating.

Like most of Dr. Hon’s patients, Tiffany opted to pay extra for a transversus abdominis plane, or TAP, nerve block injection, which helps with pain control after surgery.

Tiffany says she was relatively pain-free following her surgery, and the only slightly bothersome aspect was having to walk a bit hunched over 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 were back home by noon, where she spent most of the day sleeping. As each day passed, she felt better and better.

Other than having to walk slightly hunched over initially and regaining her stamina after anesthesia, Tiffany says there were no bothersome aftereffects. She took two weeks off work but felt physically recovered enough to work again after a week.

“I had the best experience,” she says. “I was off my pain meds within two or three days and was never in pain. I was never scared about not feeling good.”

As for her initial fears around downtime and returning to exercise, she needn’t have worried. She was walking for exercise within four to five days and began running again at six weeks.

Dr. Hon says it commonly takes four to six weeks for most patients to feel like themselves again. While walking is acceptable from the beginning, she asks patients to delay heavier exercise to allow for healing.

The 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 so much better,” she says. “I'm happy to walk around the house naked, when before, I was not all into being naked. Clothes are easy to shop for and fit better. I wish I had done it 15 or 20 years ago so that I could have enjoyed it longer. But I just love it.”

Dr. Hon says it’s a sentiment she often hears from her patients.

“I think people are just a little afraid because of the pain and the downtime,” she says. “But I do think patients are generally very happy after they do it.”