Just Did a Tummy Tuck, I'm Not Flat Why is It?

It takes a few weeks for swelling to subside after your surgery. This is why you look "huge" when you remove your compression garment, as swelling can no longer be controlled. Please wear your garment as advised by your surgeon, keep salt intake to a minimum and drink plenty of fresh water to help with your swelling. 

As others have alluded to you are very early in your postoperative period and you will have intermittent swelling and changes in fullness for several months.  Just be patient and see your plastic surgeon as scheduled.

In abdominoplasty is commonly associated with a sizable amount of swelling of the abdomen. As this subsides the abdomen will flatten. This is going to take a number of weeks.

Dear Breyes1005,
Every time I see a patient on their first visit after tummy tuck before they even ask the question, I point out that the two questions everyone asks are (A) Is my tummy going to get flatter? and (B) Is the incision line going to smooth out? In both cases, the answer is yes. However, it routinely takes six full months for all of the swelling to subside, and so you should not really fret over this until the full six months have passed by.

The second issue is normally the upper skin flap is longer than the lower skin flap when a tummy tuck is performed, and so we have to kind of scrunch the skin inwards and take advantage of the skin’s elasticity to even up the two sides. Typically, after two months the incision should be just as smooth as can be.

There is one other issue in that often times the thickness of the skin and the fat flap coming from above downwards is thicker than the fat immediately above the privates. As plastic surgeons, we purposefully try to undercut that advancing flap thickness to make it match. However, if there is still a mismatch, and that is different from person to person, liposuction may be required.

I hope this has helped you. Best of luck.

There are a lot of possibilities, and post operative swelling that can be expected to resolve is one. However, there is not enough info here to offer a useful answer. Photos from before surgery and now would be helpful, as would an idea of height and weight.]

Please consider reposting your question with more to go on.

All the best. 

If you are less than 6 months post op then you should not get too anxious.  It takes time for the soft tissue swelling to go down.  Considering your surgery was just 5 days ago just relax and follow your plastic surgeon's recommendations and instructions.  

It is hard to know what is appropriate as you have not reported how long it has been since your surgery.  Suffice it to say that puffiness of the abdomen can be either swelling in the tissues, which can last months after a tummy tuck, or it can be fluid collection which may need to be drained.  Your surgeon can determine which of those it is and advise you definitively about your post op course, but if you are within 3 or 4 months after surgery and have swelling without a fluid collection, you have nothing to worry about at this point; it is early.

Thank you for your question.

It is difficult to give you good advice without knowing your history or seeing photos but generally, it takes months for the swelling of tummy tuck surgery to subside and for the patient to see the final result.

Be patient and keep your follow up appointments with your surgeon as he/she knows your situation the best.

Best wishes.

It's hard to say without a picture and some information regarding when you had the procedure but there is normally some swelling for many months. Sometimes there is visceral fat ("belly fat") that cannot be flattened by a tummy tuck since it's inside the body around the organs. Also there could be a fluid collection called a seroma under the skin. These are pretty easy to differentiate so I'm sure that when you voice your concerns to your surgeon you will get a good answer. Don't overdo it if it's only been days to weeks after surgery since that can lead to more swelling and may increase the risk of seroma. Best of luck!