How Long Will I Stay Swollen After a Tummy Tuck?

This can vary from patient to patient. Typically there is significant decrease by 6 weeks with most swelling resolving completely by 3 to 6 months.  Wearing an abdominal compression garment is really important in the first 6 weeks after surgery.  This helps greatly to keep the swelling out the abdominal skin and soft tissue allowing your tummy tuck to heal nicely.  If liposuction is added to adjacent areas-- this can sometimes increase the length of time that you have swelling.

The body heals with swelling and inflammation and usually that maxes out at two days and then starts getting better. Most of these patients take no pain medicine (because of the nerve blocks given during surgery) and usually feel very comfortable going out in public the same or next days.  I usually call my patients the night of surgery and check on them in person the next day. If everything is fine the next day, I then let them shower and they do not need a dressing over their incisions. At the two week check up, I usually have people start working out and then after six weeks they can do whatever they want. 
I routinely tell people to take a few days to a week off work and to hide out but some people are very nervous especially celebrities and they might hide out for two weeks. As with any scar on the human body, initially scars are red, hard and raised and it typically takes six months to a year for them to become a soft thin white line. 
Additionally with recovery, there're many things we do to expedite healing such as nerve blocks during surgery, oral supplements, skin care and scar therapy recommendations, lymphatic massage sessions that are included in our pricing.
I strongly feel that it's very important to have an honest conversation with your surgeon about your particular situation, lifestyle, work environment and specifically which procedures you're having done so that you both have the most honest answer about your recovery and are realistic with expectations and results.
I would recommend that you see a board-certified plastic surgeon in your area that is a member of both ASPS & ASAPS and performs a lot of tummy tucks. 
I hope my answer helps and if it does, please take a moment to up vote this answer on the “respond” button on the top right.  Have a great day.

there are different types of tummy tucks with different amounts of swelling time. In addition the patients age, medical history and height weight ratio a lot come into play. Having said that, I developed the Malibu tummy tuck (TM) Patients typically wake up in no pain (please see the full tummy tuck patient video on our page). Pain and recovery are less versus traditional techniques. I hope you find this information useful. Please see the enclosed video.