Another Surgical Solution for Upper Diastasis Recti

Upper diastasis recti can be improved and sometimes cured by yoga and physical therapy.

However, it can be trickier to solve as often upper DR is often due to former surgery such as a tummy tuck or other abdominal operations, although age, obesity and pregnancy can also contribute.

A conventional tummy tuck involves a huge lower abdomen scar and may not be the best option if the issue is only above the stomach button. Keyhole DR repair cannot address skin laxity, nor upper abdomen fat deposits.

So another solution is a reverse tummy tuck, when the surgeon makes a scar underneath and in between the breasts. It is often combined with breast surgery.

Now it’s not perhaps advisable for men- as they don’t have breasts to hide the scar. Also this is a big scar and the area underneath breasts is renowned for unpredictable scarring- some scar well, some don’t- and will also leave a small horizontal scar between the breasts.

However, if you cannot close your upper diastasis recti (you should try for at least six months) and you have significant upper abdominal lose skin and perhaps unwanted fat deposits there, (and your lower abdomen is DR free and you have no skin laxity there),, this can be an excellent solution to consider. It can leave you with a beautiful contour.

Look for a surgeon who performs reverse tummy tucks on a regular basis, as this is still a rare surgery. Note that all surgical DR repairs are PAINFUL and so you should allow yourself significant recovery time (like two to three weeks off work). And finally, make sure to have physical therapy post-surgery, to make sure that any physical patterns that contributed to your DR don’t cause it to happen again!