| This 33 year old mom of 4 was so unhappy with her current situation. She had a history of bowel obstruction and bowel resection. She had emergency exploratory laporatomy but was left with severe diastasis recti and an abdominal wall hernia. She underwent reconstruction of the abdominal area with another San Diego Plastic Surgeon but unfortunately, the repair failed. She did online research to find a surgeon who would be experienced and could help her with her situation. As you can see below, her abdominal muscles were so separated that there was a significant bulge.
She found Dr. Pousti and really liked that he was not only a board certified plastic surgeon but also a board certified general surgeon. She also liked that he performed his procedures in an operating room on the campus of a hospital instead of in his office for safety reasons. She had multiple meetings with Dr. Pousti and decided to proceed with repair of abdominal wall diastasis, repair of the hernia as well as abdominoplasty surgery.
As you can see, her previous surgeries had left her with a scar running up and down as well as no belly button. Her abdominal content was very close to the overlying thin skin. Her case was very complicated! Dr. Pousti met with the patient several time to discuss the complexity of her case. The night before, Dr. Pousti took time to measure and mark the areas of concern. The purple lines are the areas that will be removed during the abdominoplasty procedure, the red outlines the area where the “herniation” is present.
Even when the patient was laying down flat, you can see the herniated area protruding out of her separated abdominal muscles.
In the operating room, you can see the abdominal muscles separated (the purple lines running up and down- below).
Below, you can see how Dr. Pousti has put the abdominal muscles back together again and taken care of the hernia. (see how the 2 separated purple lines are now sutured together).
Comparing above (before abdominal surgery by Dr. Pousti) to below (immediately after abdominal surgery).. you can see a significant difference in the tightness and contour of the abdomen.
Before Surgery
Immediately After Surgery
The Patient is now 2 months out of surgery and has healed significantly. Although the incision looks red and angry, with time it will being to fade and blend.
Patient Testimonial:
I'm a 33 year old mother of 4. I just had a complete tummy tuck hernia repair on August 29th. I had a bowel obstruction in 2005 and had a large vertical incision and an umbilical hernia. I tried to have the hernia repaired by a general surgeon last year, but that failed miserably. My insurance company would only allow them to re-open my old incision. The general surgeon chose not to use mesh, but instead closed my rectus muscles with absorbable sutures. Within three months, my diastasis was worse than ever. My intestines were literally bulging through. This was something that was very difficult for me to live with because I'm extremely fit, and health conscience. I'm very petite 5'3 and 112 pounds with no extra fatty tissue normally not the type of person that considers a tummy tuck I did not want to go back to another general surgeon to have my problem fixed. I wanted someone who would care about the 'finished product' as well as the medical issue. I saw 5 plastic surgeons because I knew how delicate my procedure would be because of this. Two of them even turned me away I chose to consult with Dr. Pousti because of the wonderful experience one of my best friends had with him. I immediately felt very comfortable with both him and his staff. It gave me great confidence to know that is board certified in BOTH plastic and general surgery. Both my husband and I knew without a doubt that he could handle any possible complication that he may be faced with. I saw Dr. Pousti for the first time since my procedure a few days ago, and he said that on a scale of white-hair inducing tummy tucks, mine was about an 11 He checked out all of my digestive organs, and thankfully everything was okay...and so far, from what we can tell, it looks awesome I'm 10 days post-op today, and am feeling stronger every day. I would not hesitate to recommend Dr. Pousti to anyone. In my opinion, he IS the absolute best in San Diego.
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