Abdominoplasty or tummy tuck is the name given to the complete treatment of aesthetic alteration to the abdominal region, which is often the result of pregnancy, although it can also be a consequence of obesity. Many women do not regain their original figure following a pregnancy, particularly if they have grown large in the pregnancy or it is not the first one. Following the pregnancy a series of aesthetic problems can arise simultaneously, essentially weakness to the muscular wall and excessive skin, associated at times with an accumulation of fat on the hips to a greater or lesser degree. The weakness in the muscular wall behind the abdomen is known in medical terms as diastasis recti. This phenomenon occurs during pregnancy and allows for the normal growth of uterus and baby. It consists in the dilation and broadening of the tendon that lies along the middle line of the abdomen and that joins both halves of the muscular wall. This tendon receives the name of linea alba and, together with the dilation of the rest of the muscular wall, allows for the normal evolution of a pregnancy. At the same time as the muscular structures and tendons allow for the development of the new being, the skin also participates in this phenomenon by growing at the rate required by the abdomen. On occasions the lower abdominal skin does not have sufficient elasticity, or the pregnancy has become very voluminous, so that this skin literally fragments, with numerous stretch marks appearing and consequent flaccidity.
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