Traditional abdominoplasty.

The introduction of liposuction in the 1980s permanently altered the landscape of body contour surgery. The abdomen became a ''group'' of contour procedures that were referred to as the abdominolipoplasty system of classification and treatment (Types I-IV). This article describes a full (Type IV) abdominoplasty with or without liposuction is performed. When extensive abdominal liposuction is performed in conjunction with a full abdominoplasty, it is also known as lipoabdominoplasty. The article also describes 10 "special situations" in the abdominoplasty population. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.