Abdominoplasty Combined with Cesarean Section: Discussion of the Evidence

Abstract

Introduction: Many women are interested in having abdominoplasty performed at the time of cesarean section. Women would like to remove the excess skin and stretch marks that form during pregnancy. Abdominoplasty has been combined with other procedures and appears to be safe. Therefore, a literature review was done to investigate the data regarding combination abdominoplasty cesarean section. Materials and Methods: A literature search was done in PubMed, EBSCO, and the Cochrane Database using search terms for abdominoplasty and cesarean section. No articles were found in EBSCO or Cochrane databases, but PubMed yielded results. Results: One clinical research study was found that specifically compared abdominoplasty with combined abdominoplasty cesarean section. This study recommended against combining these procedures. Based on this literature search as well as the literature search reported by this article, there are no other studies that investigated this combined procedure. Conclusions: Given the one clinical study as well as general logistics and safety of combining abdominoplasty with cesarean section, more research may not be needed into this procedure. Combining abdominoplasty with other gynecologic procedures seems to have different risks and aesthetic outcomes than when combined with cesarean section.