Bulge Above Belly Button After Tummy Tuck...What is It?

Although swelling can be more or less in some areas after surgery, you did NOT suddenly develop fat in your upper abdomen that you didn't have before your 6 week post-op coughing, sneezing illness! Flat before and bulge after does indeed sound as if the muscle repair may have been disrupted. Straight-leg raising while reclining can stress the abdominal wall and show any weakness in the area of your bulge, so this is relatively easy to test.

However, I have seen many tummy tuck patients who have a residual bulge in the upper abdomen (although it's there right away after surgery, not suddenly appearing after a cold and coughing jag) since it is often unsafe to deal with excess upper abdominal fat at the time of tummy tuck because of circulation concerns. In these cases, later liposuction is certainly appropriate and effective.

You just don't want your surgeon inadvertently puncturing protruding bowel rather than removing excess fat!

If in fact your muscle repair has disrupted, there is no "easy" way to re-repair it without waiting an appropriate length of time for everything to soften and mature, and then re-doing the tummy tuck to get back to that surgical area. Of course, an incision could be made in the upper abdomen over the bulge (just as a general surgeons does when fixing a hernia), but that sort of destroys the "cosmetic" nature of a tummy tuck. Perhaps an endoscopic approach could be considered. But most of us would rather not have to re-do the entire tummy tuck, so any other (safe) solution tends to be considered first. Sorry for the reality check. Best wishes!

Thank you for your question. It would give us a better idea of what you mean if you send pictures. A bulge is more commonly formed under the belly button during swelling process, as the liquid starts going down, to determine what's causing a sudden bulge over the bellybutton would require more evaluation. 

A bulge that occurs in the upper abdomen following a coughing spell...six weeks after a tummy tuck, is most likely a rupture of the suture plication. This can repaired, but requires that the entire flap be re-elevated.