WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT: The woman booked in for an abdominoplasty while pregnant, but didn’t find out the shocking news until months after the surgery was performed
A mum-of-three reportedly got a tummy tuck whilst pregnant – and didn’t find out she was expecting until more than four months after the procedure.
The unnamed 40-year-old patient had booked in for an abdominoplasty – commonly referred to as a tummy tuck – four years after having a gastric bypass. Tummy tucks are usually only performed post-pregnancy, and for many women, when they decide to stop having children.
With three children already, aged eight, 10 and 12, the patient had “concluded her family planning” when she went under the knife, prompted by her losing 110lbs in weight which left loose skin. But, unknown to her at the time, she was in the early stages of pregnancy.
A tummy tuck surgery can pose risks for both a mother and fetus, while a pregnancy can significantly stretch the skin and muscles in a person’s abdomen – which in turn affects the final results of a tummy tuck. The woman managed to stay blissfully unaware of the news for another four months, until she went for a routine gynaecological examination, reports Need To Know.
The fetus was estimated to be around six weeks at the time of the surgery, which is thought to have taken place in Salzburg, Austria. When she later found out, she said she was “still very satisfied” with the outcome of the surgery. While she developed gestational diabetes and hypertension, no complications relating to the surgery were found, and her baby boy was born at 38 weeks perfectly healthy.
The case was shared in a recently published medical report, including a follow-up with the patient which found no issues. The paper states she was “still very satisfied” with the outcome of the tummy tuck.
It’s not the first case in which a woman had been unaware of her own pregnancy. In some instances, referred to as cryptic, hidden or undiagnosed pregnancies, a person can be unaware of their pregnancy until late in the term or even during labour.
This is because some women do not present with the common symptoms associated with pregnancy, such as nausea and vomiting, fatigue, breast changes and food cravings. With a cryptic pregnancy, nothing triggers a person to believe they’re pregnant.
As well as a lack of symptoms, this could also be because pregnancy symptoms may be mistaken as a virus – or because a pregnant person may given a false test result.