Tummy Tuck Turkey

A stomach that won't flatten can have three different causes, and from the mirror alone you often can't tell which. The skin may have stretched past recovering, the muscles may have parted, or there may simply be fat left over. A tummy tuck fixes the first two. It doesn't really fix the third.

So this page starts where our consultations start, with three simple checks. From there it goes through the operation, the first weeks at home, the scar, the tummy tuck cost in Turkey compared with prices abroad, and how to judge tummy tuck before and after photos.

The three checks at your consultation

The first check is a pinch. Below your navel, the surgeon gathers a fold of skin and releases it. If it settles back smoothly, there's still some give in it. If it stays wrinkled, or drops into an apron as you bend forward, it won't tighten again by itself.

Next comes the side view. Plenty of slim women have a lower tummy that still bulges in profile, and that's usually the muscles, not fat. Fat on its own rarely produces that rounded, pushed-out look on an otherwise lean body.

The third is done lying down. You raise your head from the pillow as if starting a sit-up, and the surgeon feels along the middle of your stomach. If the muscles have drifted apart, there's a soft gap between them, often wide enough to fit two or three fingers. That width, in centimetres, is written into your plan.

Almost every later decision comes back to what these three checks find.

What the checks usually show after pregnancy

In women who've had children, we most often find the same combination: a low fold of skin, muscles a few centimetres apart and a belly button that's grown wider. If there's been a caesarean, there's often a little overhang of skin sitting on the scar. Stretch marks below the navel usually go with the skin that's cut away, while those higher up move lower and often look fainter.

This is the classic case for a full tummy tuck. Exercise can make the muscles stronger, but it won't pull them back together once the band between them has stretched. Planks and crunches can even push the bulge out further. Small umbilical hernias turn up often in this group as well, and the surgeon can usually close one during the tummy tuck.

What they show after big weight loss

After a gastric sleeve, a bypass or dieting off a lot of weight, the pinch test usually shows a lot more loose skin, sometimes hanging well below the waistband. Muscle separation varies. Plenty of men end up in this group too after slimming down, and the operation is no different for them, with the scar drawn to sit under an ordinary pair of trunks.

If the loose skin carries on round the hips and over the back, a tummy tuck will only fix the front. In that case a body lift may suit you better, and we'll say so at the start.

When the answer isn't a tummy tuck

Two findings point away from surgery on the skin. If your skin springs back well and the problem is mostly fat, belly liposuction is usually the better operation, with much smaller scars. And if your stomach is firm and round with almost nothing to pinch, the fat is probably deep inside the abdomen, around the organs. No operation on the outside will flatten that. Weight loss is the only thing that helps.

It's worth knowing this before you travel. We'd much rather tell you a tummy tuck in Turkey isn't right for you than have you make the trip for an operation that won't give you what you want.

Mini, full or extended

A mini tummy tuck removes a strip of skin below the navel through a shorter scar. The navel isn't moved, and the muscles are usually left alone. It works well for a small pouch of loose skin sitting low down, which is less common than most people hope.

A full tummy tuck is what the large majority of our patients have. The skin under the navel comes away, the skin above is pulled down to replace it, and the muscles are sewn together along their whole length, ribs to pubic bone. The navel then gets a new opening.

When the loose skin wraps round onto the hips, an extended tummy tuck takes the cut further round to catch it. After very large weight loss, a vertical incision is occasionally added down the middle as well, known as a fleur-de-lis. Because that second scar can show above a waistband, we only suggest it when there's no better option.

Your new navel

It surprises a lot of people, but the belly button is rebuilt. As the surrounding skin is pulled down, the navel stays fixed to the muscle beneath. So a fresh hole is made in the new skin and the navel is stitched into it.

This is a detail worth asking about, because a navel that's too big, too round or obviously stitched is often what gives the operation away. Our surgeons aim for a small, slightly hooded shape, with the scar tucked inside the rim.

The day of the operation

On the day of your tummy tuck in Turkey, the surgeon marks the incision while you're standing. We ask you to bring the underwear or bikini bottoms you usually wear, so the scar can be drawn to sit inside them. Any old caesarean scar is normally removed within the same strip of skin.

The operation is done under general anaesthetic. If you have fuller flanks or a roll on the lower back, VASER liposuction can be added to three zones around the waist at the same time. We keep liposuction away from the central abdomen, though, because the lifted skin depends on a reduced blood supply for the first weeks and suction there can damage it. More detail on that technique is on our VASER liposuction page.

You'll wake up wearing a compression garment, usually with two small drains to remove fluid, and you'll spend the first night on the ward. With liposuction added, it's two nights.

Tummy tuck recovery, week by week

During week one you'll walk every day but slightly bent forward, because standing fully upright pulls on the muscle repair. It feels tight and sore more than truly painful. Sleeping propped up on pillows, with a cushion under your knees, takes the strain off the stitches. The drains usually come out after about a week to ten days, and you'll have a final check around day seven before flying home.

After a tummy tuck, blood clots are our main safety concern. It's a fairly long operation, and a tight stomach makes you breathe less deeply and move less for a while, so calf pumps are used during surgery and walking starts on the first day.

Between weeks two and three, most people with office jobs go back to work. The compression garment stays on for about six weeks. Lifting a toddler should wait around six weeks, and anything that works the stomach muscles waits eight to ten. The skin between the navel and the scar is usually numb for some months, with feeling returning gradually.

How the scar changes over a year

For about three months the scar looks pink and feels firm and a little raised. It then flattens and pales slowly. Most have become a thin, light line low on the abdomen by twelve to eighteen months. The line never disappears completely. Shielding it from strong sunshine in those twelve months and using silicone sheets once the wound has healed both help.

Tummy tuck results, and how to read photos

The best way to judge tummy tuck results is from the side. A stomach that's flat in profile shows that the muscles were repaired as well as the skin. From the front, look at how low the scar sits and whether the navel looks natural.

The same applies to tummy tuck before and after photos from any clinic, ours included. Photos taken in the first few weeks still show swelling, so pictures at six months or later are more honest. Reviews from patients a year after surgery tell you the most, because by then the scar has settled too.

If your weight holds and there's no further pregnancy, the result lasts. Removed skin doesn't grow back, and a muscle repair that has healed properly stays closed.

Tummy tuck cost in Turkey

A full tummy tuck costs €4,000 with us, including the muscle repair. With VASER liposuction to three zones on the flanks and back, it's €5,000, compared with €3,700 plus a €500 VASER fee if those zones were done on their own. That figure includes the surgical team and hospital stay, your compression garments, transfers to and from the airport, an interpreter, and check-ups for twelve months afterwards. Hotels are arranged through us and itemised on their own. Most patients stay six nights in Istanbul in total. Mini and extended versions are priced once we've seen your photos.

After pregnancy, many women combine a tummy tuck with breast surgery in a mommy makeover, which has its own package price.

Abroad, a full tummy tuck costs considerably more: the comparison table shows €8,172 to €13,076 in Britain, €6,902 to €11,648 in America and €6,000 to €8,000 in German clinics.

Before you book

A few things are worth settling first. If you might want more children, it's usually best to wait, because a later pregnancy can separate the muscles again. We ask for a stable weight over at least the previous six months. If you smoke, you'll need to stop several weeks beforehand. Nicotine makes a long wound like this heal more slowly.

Wherever you go, get three things in writing: your muscle gap in centimetres, which type of tummy tuck is being recommended and why, and exactly what the price covers. With those on paper, comparing a tummy tuck in Turkey with a quote at home becomes straightforward.