General anaesthesia is more common but local anaesthesia may be used as well and the procedure is carried out on an ambulatory basis in either office or hospital. Patients usually miss less than a week from work, have their sutures removed by the 10th day and can return to exercise by the third week. Breast reduction is generally carried out on an ambulatory basis in the hospital under general anaesthesia with or without an overnight hospital- ization. Breast lifting may also be performed in the office under local anaesthesia and usually requires the same incisions. The sutures are generally left in about 2 weeks and patients return to work at the end of the second or third week.
Insurance covers reduction of breasts to large as to cause syptoms of neck and back pain.
An abdominoplasty is an excision of redundant abdominal skin after childbirth or weight loss together with a repair of the weakened abdominal wall beneath. It is a substantial operation performed under general anaesthesia requiring a hospitalization for several days. The incision and resulting scar is a low curving one just above the pubic hair. Sutures are generally removed by the end of the second week and most patients stay home from work for three weeks. Insurance reimburses instances when there is an abdominal wall hernia.