I have a huge bulge after my tummy tuck. What are my options? (Photo)

To make an assessment regarding the outcome of a plastic surgery procedure we generally need to see a complete set of proper before and after pictures.
If you don’t have before, and after pictures, didn’t ask your surgeon to forward the pictures they took.
Before prescribing an operation, we need to have a clear understanding of what the problem is.
The most common reason patients complain of bulging after a tummy tuck is due to access, visceral or intra-abdominal fat.
This can only be reduced with weight loss.
There are four tissue variables to determine what the abdomen looks like.
in other words, if somebody doesn’t like the way they abdomen looks the problem is based on one or more of these four variables.
Those variables are.
1) abdominal skin laxity due to previous pregnancy or weight loss.
2) excess subcutaneous fat.
3) muscle separation from previous pregnancy.
4) excess visceral, or intra abdominal fat.
Your tummy tuck addressed abdominal skin, laxity and muscle separation. It looks like you also had liposuction in conjunction with the procedure.
That only leaves excess visceral fat as the explanation for a bulging abdomen.
Weight loss is the only way to reduce this fat.
This could most likely have been determined during your initial assessments.
In a perfect world individuals who have access, visceral fat should be told of this condition, and how it may limit or impact the outcome of the procedure without successful weight loss.
Follow up with your provider or schedule in person second opinion consultations with other providers in your community.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom, MD