Obie Gets A Tummy Tuck

Obie, a charming but immensely obese dachshund made headlines last year when his new owner Nora Vanetta, a certified veterinary technician decided to put him on a diet and get him back to being a happy dog . Obie s problems had begun when his former owners decided to love him with food. He put on so much weight that his stomach literally dragged on the ground. His story soon went viral with a website and Facebook page dedicated to his cause. Sympathies poured in. Dr. Spero Theodorou, a leading plastic surgeon in New York met with the dog s owner and offered to provide free guidance to an attending veterinary plastic surgeon regarding the problem of loose skin after Obie s weight loss. Well, this Oregon pup is finally on the right track he finally got his tummy tuck on April 30! The vets at Emergency Veterinary Clinic of Tualatin performed the surgery on the dog and removed about two and a half pounds of loose skin. The Weiner is now recovering and weighs 37 lbs compared to 77 lbs last August. Vanetta is targeting 28-30 lbs as the healthy weight for her pet. What a Tummy Tuck Can Do Obie s story tells you one thing there is a limit to the role that diet and exercise can play in getting rid of excess fat. Tummy tuck surgery was inevitable in Obie s case. The same goes for people with a lot of excess fat in the abdominal region. Protrusion and sagging can occur due to many reasons aging, hereditary factors, pregnancy, general weight gain or fluctuations in weight, and previous surgery.  A tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty as it is otherwise called, can remove this excess fat and skin. Weakened or separated muscles are restored to result in a firmer, trimmer abdomen. There are broadly two types of tummy tucks complete and mini.  In the complete abdominoplasty, the plastic surgeon makes an incision in the lower abdominal region, and sometimes in the upper abdominal region too. Excess fat, tissue and skin are removed through the incision and slack muscles are repaired. The navel is repositioned if necessary. If there s only a little excess skin, a mini tummy tuck can resolve the issue. In both cases, the result is a well-contoured abdominal profile that suits your physical proportions. Combining a tummy tuck with liposuction can vastly improve the outcome. As a considerable amount of excess skin was removed, it s obvious that Obie went through a more or less complete abdominoplasty. What a Tummy Tuck Cannot DoObie would still have to stick to his diet and exercise program if his owner wants to bring him down to the ideal weight. That s because a tummy tuck cannot help with  weight loss. Nor is it a substitute for exercise. The surgery also cannot resolve stretch marks, though some improvement is possible. However, a study in the February 2013 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery , the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) reports that patients who have an abdominoplasty can experience significant and lasting weight loss , especially if the patient was overweight or obese before surgery. One could say this is good news for Obie!Tummy tuck is a minimally invasive procedure recommended for the correction of a sagging and loose abdomen.Abdominoplasty is performed to flatten your abdomen by removing extra fat and skin resulting from weight loss or pregnancy.