How Should I Prepare for My Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck)?
Please read the following requirements and recommendations before your surgery and contact your surgeon’s office with any concerns or questions.
- Before your surgery, do not take any medications that thin the blood. Our office will provide a list of medications that could interfere with your procedure or recovery. Pay close attention to when you must stop taking each medication in the weeks and days before your procedure.
- If you are a smoker, you must not smoke for four weeks before surgery and eight weeks after.
- On the day of your procedure, wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing.
- Arrange for a friend or family member to escort you home from surgery and remain with you for 24 hours following your procedure.
What Happens During a Tummy Tuck?
Once in the operating room, you will receive anesthesia to keep you asleep during your surgery. Next, our surgical team will clean your abdomen with a special solution. Then, your surgeon will make an incision in the area between the pubic hairline and the belly button. The shape and length of the incision will vary and be determined by how much excess skin you have to remove. The incision placement will be low enough to be concealed with clothing or a bathing suit.
Your surgeon will then repair the underlying weakened muscles. Next, the abdominal skin is pulled, the excess skin is trimmed, and the remaining skin is sutured together. A second incision may be required to remove extra skin in the upper abdomen. After the skin is removed, the surgeon will place multiple layers of stitches in your skin to close the incision and also place drains that will remove any extra fluid that accumulates in the area in the days after surgery. The type of stitches used will not be visible to you and will dissolve over several months. Finally, a new belly button hole is created, and the belly button is pulled through and stitched into position.
After your surgery, you will be fitted with a special garment called an abdominal binder, which will provide extra support to your abdominal muscles and skin after surgery. The binder will protect your stitches and help maintain muscular stability during healing.
You will be prescribed antibiotics to prevent infection, and drains will be placed to remove blood and other fluids that collect in the days after surgery. If the amount of bleeding is significant, or if the drains are not functioning correctly, sometimes a patient must return to the operating room to remove this extra fluid. Additionally, you should be aware of the following possibilities:
- Bleeding and infection are risks of having an abdominoplasty.
- Delayed wound healing or necrosis (death of the skin) of a portion of the abdominal skin or belly button is possible. If this occurs, wound care to the area may be required for several weeks.
- Each individual has different ways of scarring. You may have thickened, painful or keloid scars after your surgery.
- Minor asymmetry of the abdomen may also occur after surgery.
- Some patients will experience numbness throughout their abdomen after surgery. This usually improves with time, but some will have long-standing numbness, especially in the central part of the lower abdomen.
In addition to a prescription for antibiotics to prevent infection, you will be given pain medication and advised to take it as needed. You must have a home caregiver to help monitor your recovery, administer medications and assist with household tasks.
Please follow the recommendations below to ensure timely and desired healing results:
- You must sleep on your back with several pillows under your back and knees to keep you in a flexed position at all times. Some patients are more comfortable sleeping in a reclining chair.
- You must empty your drains at least twice daily and record their output. Our staff will provide instructions for how to do this before you go home. Your drains will be removed at your postoperative visit, approximately one week after your surgery.
- You will need to sponge bathe until the drains are removed.
- Wear the abdominal binder at all times for the first two weeks.
- Avoid heavy lifting or strenuous activity for two to four weeks, and refrain from abdominal exercises for six weeks.
- You must avoid sun exposure to your incisions for an entire year. Sunlight darkens the scars and makes them more noticeable.
If any of the following symptoms arise in the hours or days following your procedure, please contact your surgeon immediately:
- You experience excessive oozing through the incision, which stains your dressings or the binder.
- You experience pain or swelling in your lower legs.
- You feel that one portion of your abdomen has become noticeably more swollen than the others.
- You have a fever over 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
- You have sudden, severe pain in your abdomen.
Seek care immediately or call 911 if:
- You experience dizziness that lasts several minutes and does not improve with sitting and relaxing, or you lose consciousness.
- You have trouble breathing.
- You notice an area of your abdomen that is rapidly increasing in size or causing severe pain.