Tummy tuck recovery 2 months9/5/2023 This is important for your overall health and healing and the prevention of blood clots. This includes getting up to go to the bathroom and with some restrictions, taking a shower. You may even be given a walker to get around the first week after surgery.Įven with a muscle repair, your surgeon will require that you begin moving about within a day of your surgery. This becomes even more important after a muscle repair. This is normal and it is important not to force an upright position and put undue strain while your incision heals. It is typical of all patients after a tummy tuck to have slightly hunched over posture. You will also not be allowed to do any core strengthening exercises, such as sit-ups, to avoid stressing and potentially tearing the repair. You will be prohibited from lifting anything heavier for a full six to eight weeks after surgery. You will probably need help putting it on and taking it off in the first few days.Īfter surgery, your doctor will restrict you to lifting no more than about 10-15 pounds. You will be given instructions on how to put it on and will be told to wear it regularly. Shortly after surgery you will be given an abdominal binder to help support the repaired muscle and to reduce overall swelling. Both of these issues, if they occur, typically resolve within four to six weeks. The stomach has less room to expand and the diaphragm meets more resistance as it moves down to allow you to take a breath. This is due to a decrease in the amount of room inside the abdominal cavity caused by tightening the muscles. When a muscle repair is included with your tummy tuck, you will be required to be more careful and your recovery will take a bit longer - from three to four weeks longer.Īfter a muscle repair patients often experience feeling more full quickly when eating and the sensation of not being able to take as deep a breath as they used to. Over exerting yourself too early can compromise your results and will certainly be painful. When the muscle is repaired it needs time to rest so that it can heal up. Even simple movements like lifting your arms when sitting upright or rolling over in bed can engage these muscles - and then there’s coughing and sneezing. This means that they contract nearly any time you move your body. Unlike the skin and fatty tissue that cover the abdomen, the muscles underneath (and the rectus abdominis is a big one) are prime movers and stabilizers of the whole trunk. The difference in recovery between a tummy tuck with muscle repair versus one without has to do with the fact that muscles contract. Why a muscle repair impacts tummy tuck recovery Though you can’t see it from the outside of the body, this involves suturing up and down the whole length of the abdomen. The surgery involves folding over the stretched tissue of the linea alba and suturing the two sides of the rectus abdominis muscle together. How the muscle is repairedĭiastasis recti can be corrected by a general surgeon, but plastic surgeons routinely do this as part of their tummy tuck procedure. Furthermore, if a woman has had a cesarean section, a repair will likely have already been completed at that time. Even when the linea alba is stretched out, it can sometimes return to its normal size on its own. Not all tummy tucks include a muscle repair because not all bellies that can benefit from a tummy tuck have a diastasis recti. Why the muscle sometimes doesn’t need a repair It can cause pain in the abdomen, hips, and back, as well as bowel and bladder issues, all of which can have a huge impact on quality of life. This condition is called diastasis recti.īesides being a cosmetic issue for some people, this condition can affect posture and trunk strength. When this happens the two sides of the muscle move further apart, resulting in an outward bulging of the belly that doesn’t go away, even when weight (baby or otherwise) is gone. The linea alba can become over stretched, usually during pregnancy but also due to extreme weight gain or a lifting injury. It has a left and right side separated down the middle by a band of tissue called the linea alba. It is called the rectus abdominis and it runs vertically from your sternum to your pubic bone. If you have seen the abs on even one superhero you will know the muscle we are talking about. But one of the biggest factors to impact recovery from a tummy tuck, also called an abdominoplasty, is whether or not a muscle repair is included. The aim of the tummy tuck is to slim and tighten the waist for a more shapely and youthful appearance, but the surgical route to get you there (and into some cute new clothes) can vary quite a bit.ĭepending on the amount of excess skin and fat to be removed, incisions can be shorter or more extensive, including the repositioning of the belly button. Some involve more extensive surgery than others, and for this reason, what to expect during recovery can vary from person to person.
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