Dirve-Through Tummy Tucks?

In our super-sized nation that many experts are claiming is increasingly overweight because of fast food, there's now a fast food solution for those considering tummy tuck surgery this summer. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) has announced that ambulatory abdominoplasty ("tummy tuck") surgery may now be safely and effectively performed at an accredited outpatient surgery facility, making the need for a hospital visit unnecessary. That's right. Outpatient surgery to get rid of fat may be as close to a drive-through tummy tuck as one can probably get.

Tummy tuck surgery is a surgical procedure that gives patients a trimmer waistline by removing excess skin and fat from the midsection. No exercise or dieting required. The surgical procedure includes tightening of the underlying abdominal muscles or liposuction on the front or back of the midsection. Plasticsurgery.org says that tummy tuck surgery is a is a "major surgical procedure to remove excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen." A Google search for "tummy tuck" is revealing with over 3,580,000 results ranging from information on the costs of tummy tucks to tummy tuck photos to the "Amazing Tummy Tucks" at Tijuana-Cosmetic-Surgery with its "skilled surgeons" at a decidedly lower cost, never mind the risk apparently.

Per ASAPS, there's a very large and very growing demand for the tummy tuck procedure. Abdominoplasty is one of the top five cosmetic surgical procedures performed in the United States, according to the organization. There were 34,000 tummy tucks in 1997 and 172,500 tummy tucks performed in 2006. In the wake of this new study from ASAPS, will the overweight now bypass the slenderizing Spanx undergarments and specialized Tummy Tuck jeans from the UK in favor of the knife?

ASAPS' announcement is based on findings from an analysis of outpatient tummy tucks performed over the last ten years. These findings are published in the May/June 2007 issue of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal (ASJ).

W. Grant Stevens, MD, lead author of the study talks about the effectiveness and safety of performing the surgery at an accredited outpatient surgery facility. "Even though these procedures are commonly performed on an outpatient basis, we had few large, published studies to support outpatient
abdominoplasty as a safe and effective operation. This large, long-term study clearly illustrates that these procedures may be safely performed in an accredited outpatient facility."

With getting major surgery like a tummy tuck becoming easier and faster, will that make our fast food nation resort to surgical procedures rather than a healthy diet and exercise?

Here's what this writer who admittedly enjoys a Big Mac every now and then would like to know--

Can I get fries with that tummy tuck?

Source:

Outpatient Tummy Tucks Deemed Safe and Effective, July 12, PR NewsWire, http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/07-12-2007/0004624342&EDATE=