Since I've never had kids or been very overweight, tummy tuck surgery is something I've never had to contemplate, but a member of my family certainly has.

Back in the 70s, after giving birth to two huge babies at a time when she herself was overweight, she found herself with a stomach she could pull out and make a knot in. No amount of exercise could reduce it or tighten the skin, and she was desperate to have it fixed.

Back then, however, scarring could be very bad from surgery, so she decided to live with her baggy tummy as the lesser of two evils - but luckily today, things have changed.

One Los-Angeles cosmetic surgeon, Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery, is now offering a stomach-tightening procedure that it calls the 'Beverly Hills tummy tuck', which results in a very natural stomach shape and the usual scar at bikini-line level. Although it can't remove stretch marks, the procedure makes them less noticeable.

However, Rodeo Drive, which is a medical affiliate of the University of Southern California, says it's proudest of its latest innovation - the 'Rodeo Drive Belly Button', which it includes in all tummy-tuck surgeries. This is a new procedure that anchors the stomach button to the underlying muscle tissue to give it a more natural appearance than was previously possible in abdominoplasty. Particularly useful for women who want to bare their midriff or wear a belly-button ring - or simply look good in a bikini.

Abdominoplasty in the UK typically costs around £6,000 but in the US is cheaper - around £2,000 ($3,500), but for those who can't stretch to paying in one go, Rodeo Drive is providing plastic surgery financing: for a tummy tuck it costs from $212 per month.