Q. What happens during surgery? A. A Beverly Hills Tummy Tuck usually takes about two hours. During the procedure, you'll be under general (not local) anesthesia. After marking exactly where the incision will be made-above the pubic bone to just below the hip area- an incision is made, a flap of skin is lifted, and excess skin is removed. The muscles are tightened, using numerous sutures (which later dissolve by themselves), and the belly button is brought out through a new opening in a new location. Finally, all the incisions are closed with more sutures. Q. What happens after surgery? A. You'll wake up in the recovery room, and find that you now have a small drainage tube near your surgical area. It's there to remove fluid your body produces in response to the surgery. This tube should be kept in place for about two weeks. In some cases, more fluid may collect later on and will need to be removed. Photo courtesy of Jim Mutter, Director of Plastic Surgeon Marketing for Spore Medical