I had a no-drain TT on 9/30/12. It has now been five weeks and I am suddenly experiencing a sharp, constant pain in my upper left side of the abdomen. It's also a bit more swollen and firm in that area as well...but no discoloration. It's much more painful when I touch it or try to massage it. I developed a medium sized hematoma on my left side of the abdomen right after my surgery and my PS drained it about 4-5 times over the course of a month. So, I naturally thought this new pain and firm area was a new hematoma but when I just saw my PS about it, he attempted to extract more fluid from the area of pain but nothing came out. He concluded that it might just be swollen tissues or irritated muscles. This puzzles me only because I feel as though the pain should be slowly going away at this point and not getting worse. The pain is so very annoying to the point where I have to sit down and rest during most of my day. And I have 4 young children to take care of so this pain is just slowing me down. Anyone experiencing this out there? Any diagnosis?
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September 27, 2017
Answer: Sharp Pain Five Weeks After Drainless Tummy Tuck
At only 4.5 weeks postop from a drainless tummy tuck, you are still relatively early in your recovery with some abdominal swelling remaining. I tell my patients to hold off on evaluating their tummy tuck results until at least 3 months postop when the majority of the swelling has resolved. ...
A timeless question! A link to my research (meta-analysis) on drains for abdominoplasty is posted below. Our research showed that "drainless tummy tuck with progressive tension sutures" were more effective than tummy tuck with drains in reducing seroma (fluid buildup) and reoperation rates, with...
Like crescent breast lifts, the umbilical float tummy tuck is a bad idea: it doesn't tighten around or above the belly button and it malpositions the belly button too low on the abdominal wall, which is eye catching. If you still have laxity, you will need a reverse abdominoplasty which pulls...
