Is Abdominoplasty Safe in Your 60s? Can Older Patients Undergo the Procedure?
Patient Registration Info
| Age | Weight | Height | BMI |
|---|---|---|---|
|
in their 60s |
62kg |
163cm |
23 |
Surgical site
abdominoplasty, M-type, Triple lock, Navel Correction, abdomen liposuction
As we age, the body’s energy expenditure decreases, and muscle mass declines significantly, making weight loss more challenging.
For women who have gone through menopause, physical and hormonal changes can lead to excessive weight gain, which may cause various health issues and reduce overall quality of life.
In fact, many middle-aged women find that even after attempting post-menopausal dieting, their weight remains unchanged or rebounds to their original weight—or even higher—due to decreased physical activity.
Additionally, pregnancy causes the abdomen to expand, increasing intra-abdominal pressure and leading to rectus diastasis, a condition where the abdominal muscles separate.
After childbirth, the stretched skin often fails to fully recover, resulting in sagging.
As aging progresses, decreased activity, loss of skin elasticity, and hormonal shifts further contribute to fat accumulation in the abdominal area, making weight management increasingly difficult.
When conventional methods like diet and exercise become ineffective in addressing abdominal fat, and the combination of aging, thinner skin, and gravity exacerbates sagging,
abdominoplasty can be considered as a surgical solution to remove excess skin, tighten the abdomen, and reshape the overall body contour.
Now, let’s review a case of a patient who underwent an abdominoplasty procedure.
The patient we will be analyzing today is a woman in her mid-60s who has experienced three natural births.
She was particularly concerned about the overall shape of her abdomen, which included significant skin laxity, excess fat, and deep wrinkles in the upper abdomen.
Several years ago, she underwent fat-dissolving injection treatments at another clinic in an attempt to improve her abdominal contour, but the results were unsatisfactory.
As a result, she developed adhesions and changes in the skin tissue due to the hardening of the fat layers beneath the skin, adding to her distress.
In such cases, even if a secondary liposuction procedure is performed, the recovery period tends to be longer than average.
Preoperative body analysis revealed significant skin laxity across the entire abdomen and upper abdominal wall relaxation, which caused the navel to be covered and barely visible.
Additionally, excessive skin sagging from the upper abdomen resulted in noticeable wrinkling.
To address these concerns, a medium-type abdominoplasty combined with rectus plication was necessary to correct both the loose, sagging skin and the stretched abdominal muscles, ultimately restoring a smoother, firmer abdominal contour.
In this patient’s case, since the dissection extended to the upper abdomen and the excess skin was pulled downward for excision, repositioning of the navel was unavoidable.
Therefore, umbilicoplasty was performed to refine both the position and shape of the navel for a balanced, natural appearance.
Below is a comparison of preoperative and one-month postoperative photographs.
The patient, in her mid-60s, experienced accelerated skin aging, leading to thinner skin and significant sagging due to the effects of gravity.
With skin laxity and abdominal wall relaxation corrected through an abdominoplasty and rectus plication, her abdomen became noticeably firmer and more youthful—achieving a transformation that is hard to believe for someone in their mid-60s.
Additionally, by performing liposuction on the subcutaneous fat accumulated in the abdomen, she was able to achieve a slimmer, more defined waistline.
The wrinkles above the navel, which were caused by sagging skin, were significantly improved by pulling the excess skin downward and excising it, resulting in a smoother abdominal appearance.
Additionally, the previously flattened navel, which had lost its natural shape due to loose skin, was reshaped into a more defined vertical form through umbilicoplasty.
By repositioning the navel, the waist appears more cinched, and the overall body proportions create the illusion of longer legs.
After menopause, abdominal fat can increase due to various factors such as hormonal changes, slowed metabolism, and stress, making it particularly challenging to manage.
In many cases, the abdomen becomes a major source of body image concerns, as it is affected by fat accumulation from pregnancy, stretched skin and abdominal muscles, and significant weight fluctuations.
As the body ages, the skin becomes thinner, and the effects of gravity accelerate sagging, leading to an increase in the amount of loose skin.
However, abdominoplasty is neither a simple nor a minor procedure.
If considering surgery as a solution, it is crucial to assess one’s health condition and determine whether the procedure is truly necessary through a thorough consultation with an experienced surgeon. This careful approach ensures the best possible outcome.
