By Dr. Christopher Patronella When someone is seeking a tummy tuck, there are a number of questions that are really beneficial to ask your surgeon. This will give you more information about the procedure, how the surgeon performs it, and how it will affect you and the appearance of your abdomen. 1. Does the muscle wall need to be repaired?In most circumstances, if a woman has had children, it will need to be repaired. It does slow the recovery a little bit, particularly in returning to exercise, but it’s well worth it because it gives the abdomen a flatter overall appearance. 2. How do you p ..read more

By Dr. Christopher Patronella BMI (Body Mass Index), which gauges a person’s body fat based upon their height and weight, is an important factor in evaluating a person’s suitability for plastic surgery. If the BMI is high—and we consider anything over 30 to be high—then the risk factors for a surgical procedure and the potential complications associated with those procedures is higher. So I like my patients to have a BMI under 30 to reduce the potential for complications with body contouring surgery, which includes liposuction, tummy tuck, thigh lift surgery, arm lift surgery—any of those con ..read more

By Dr. Christopher Patronella Generally, a candidate for a formal, full abdominoplasty or tummy tuck (True Form Tummy Tuck®) is someone who has three main components: Separation of the muscle wall (diastasis), usually in a woman who’s had children Excess thickness of the fat pad over the abdominal wall Loose skin of the upper and lower abdomen Those three things can all be improved during a True Form Tummy Tuck®.The fat is thinned in such a way that the normal anatomical structures underneath can be accentuated. In addition, the muscle wall separation is repaired, and the excess skin is rem ..read more

Newsweek Magazine and Statista announced Dr. Christopher Patronella earned a position on their prestigious “America’s Best Plastic Surgeons of 2023” list for the third year in a row. Dr. Patronella was named one of America’s best plastic surgeons for facelift surgery, breast augmentation, liposuction, and rhinoplasty.  Plastic surgeons were selected for the list based upon three data sources: 1. Online survey by state2,000 medical experts with a knowledge of plastic surgery (doctors/surgeons, plastic surgery clinic manager and medical professionals) were invited to participate in an onlin ..read more

By Plastic Surgeon Dr. Christopher Patronella I’m often presented with a patient who comes to the office for a consultation with me regarding their neck. They tell me they want improvement of their neck, and they are adamant that they do not want a facelift. Treating the neck alone can be a good fit for some patients—generally the younger patient, someone in their 30s who has a genetic predisposition to a full neck—whereby fat can be removed, and the skin still has enough tone that it will retract nicely. But in the older patient—and I’m talking about anyone in their 40s, 50s 60s—a necklift a ..read more

The question comes up regarding the utility of using autologous fat, which is your own fat, to augment the breasts, as opposed to a foreign device like a silicone gel or saline breast implant. Certainly there is a role for fat grafting of the breasts for augmentation. We’ve found through scientific studies that it’s very safe and can be performed. Generally speaking, a much more modest enlargement is accomplished by fat grafting—usually a cup size and no more—because we can’t overwhelm the breast with so much fat that the fat which is placed in the breast doesn’t take. So a realistic expectat ..read more

 By Dr. Chris Patronella Over the years, we’ve seen an acceleration in weight loss procedures, also known as bariatric surgery, that patients have undergone, and it has been very powerful. This has changed the complexion of most plastic surgeons’ practices in that there are many patients who couldn’t lose weight for one reason or another who’ve had either a gastric bypass or a gastric sleeve and have subsequently lost weight. More recently, we’re seeing patients who’ve been on a semiglutide like Ozempic and have lost weight—sometimes 20, 30, 40, 50 pounds—without the help of a surgical proce ..read more

By Plastic Surgeon Dr. Christopher Patronella What is Capsular Contracture? When an implant is placed during breast augmentation surgery, the body normally forms a very specialized layer of scar tissue around the implant. This is called a capsule. The capsule forms in a very specific way around the implant. The implant should move in the space within the capsule. When the implant doesn’t move in that space, it is restricted. And that’s called a capsular contracture. There are various grades of capsular contracture. A very mild one might be a grade 1. A very severe one is a grade 4, which woul ..read more

By Plastic Surgeon Dr. Christopher Patronella Someone who has this condition has to be evaluated as to whether or not a breast lift is necessary, whether or not an implant is necessary, or whether both are necessary. In that decision is a careful assessment of what a woman seeks as their goal. Do they want a more natural look? Or do they want an artificial look? Do they want a soft feel, or do they want a little firmer feel? Do they want the breasts to be restored to a position that is less natural but has more fullness at the top, or do they want a softly, natural-sloping breast? Once that is ..read more

An unnatural-looking belly button is a giveaway that you’ve had a tummy tuck. So it’s very important in a tummy tuck procedure to create a nice contour for the belly button. And this requires detailed attention. When performing the tummy tuck procedure, I strive to create a belly button which had these attractive characteristics: It has depth, and the scar is not real apparent—it’s placed on the inside of the belly button. The belly button is vertical, but not overtly so, and it’s not overly big. It needs to be relatively small so that it’s inconspicuous on the abdominal wall. I have found th ..read more