Can tummy tuck scar tissue cause bowel obstructions?

Thanks for your inquiry and excellent question. Sorry to hear about your mother's struggles with adhesions.  I am going to disagree with my esteemed colleagues a bit. During a routine abdominoplasty, we do not enter the peritoneal cavity. If you, the patient, do not have ahesions in your abdomen meaning you likely have never had surgery in your abdominal cavity or you simply did not have much inflammatory changes like adhesions that occurred from prior surgery--then the muscle plication portion of the tummy tuck should not lead to bowel obstruction.   If you have a history of a "hostile" abdomen, meaning there are lots of adhesions from prior surgeries or you had extensive mesh placed on the abdominal wall to repair a prior hernia--then I would raise the following concern.  The small intestine in particular has a mobility within the abdominal cavity in a normal abdomen.  This mobility allows the small intestine to essentially rearrange itself such that the bowel will not kink or obstruct when the abdominal cavity is reduced in size or shape-- as occurs during the muscle plication.  However, if the intestines are rigidly fixed to the abdominal wall through adhesions and then your surgeon tightens the muscles and draws in the abdominal wall-you can possible kink these fixed loops of bowel by placing them in a configuration that does compromises intestinal flow possibly leading to obstruction even though he/she did not enter the peritoneal cavity.  Is this a common scenario--NO, but it is real and patients who have had extensive prior surgeries including mesh repairs of hernias and/or a prior extensive history of adhesions shoud discuss the risks of the muscle repair portion of a tummy tuck in more detail with his/her surgeon.  Of course, the skin and fat removal portions of a tummy tuck will not affect the bowel at all.  Good Luck.

   A tummy tuck would not involve dissection into the abdominal cavity.  Therefore, no adhesions would be created.Kenneth Hughes, MDLos Angeles, CA

Tummy tuck cannot cause internal adhesions that are causing your mother's bowel obstructions.  The tummy tuck is performed all outside of the abdominal cavity, where the bowel resides.