Tummy Tuck in Oh: Plastic Surgery - Why can’t I smoke and have a tummy tuck?

In the process of performing a tummy tuck, the skin and fat on the stomach is elevated off of the underlying abdominal muscles. During this portion of the surgery, arteries and veins which pass from the muscles to the skin are removed which reduces the blood supply to the abdominal skin. Enough blood in able to get to this skin to keep it alive through small blood vessels which travel from the back and sides as long as these vessels have not been damaged during previous surgeries.

For some unknown reason, our blood vessels have a natural receptor for the nicotine molecule. When nicotine is inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin, the nicotine molecule attaches to the blood vessels which stimulates them to constrict or narrow in size. This results is less blood traveling to their intended area such as the stomach skin.

Under normal circumstances, this reduction in blood supply goes unnoticed because there is adequate blood traveling from multiple sources to the skin so that some decrease in perfusion does not threaten the viability of the skin. During a tummy tuck, however, the combination of reduced blood supply from surgery and nicotine blood vessel constriction often is too severe to keep the skin alive. Large areas of skin will often die requiring subsequent surgeries to remove the dead skin and replace it with skin grafts resulting in sever scarring and deformity.

All forms of nicotine including cigarette smoke, nicotine gum, nicotine patches and secondary smoke must be strictly avoided for at least three to four weeks before a tummy tuck and for one month after surgery. This is also true for other cosmetic surgeries where skin has been undermined and pulled tight such as facelifts, breast reductions, breast lifts, arm lifts and thigh lifts.

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