Bowel Cleansing Before Tummy Tuck

There are 2 reasons cited for bowel preps:
1- Have empty bowels in case there is injury to the bowel. This is highly unlikely in a routine tummy tuck, unless there is an associated hernia repair or other intraabdominal procedures. In this case I leave the decision to the general surgeon in charge of the intraabdominal part of the procedure.
2- to prevent straining or constipation after surgery which may endanger the muscle repair if the patient pushes too much. The risk is increased with use of narcotics, which are needed for pain control, as narcotics by themselves cause constipation.
I think the use of stool softeners a few days before surgery, and the use of pain pumps, which vastly decrease the need for narcotics, are more than enough to eliminate constipation as a factor.

We do not routinely prep the bowel unless there is an associated hernia that is complicated, i.e. revisional, where intraabdominal surgery might be necessary when the hernia is repaired.  Often these more complicated procedures are done in conjunction with a general surgeon in a hospital setting.