Pain Medication Injected into Abdominal Muscle During Tummy Tuck?

Exparel is a long acting local anesthetic that can be used with tummy tucks.  It lasts approximately 72 hours.  It can be expensive but if this is something that you are interested in, I would talk to my surgeon and see if they are willing to use it.

Pain after the tummy tuck procedure is not uncommon, especially if plication (tightening of your abdominal wall has been performed.  Various things can be done to alleviate pain after this procedure.  The local anesthetic bupivacaine may be injected directly into the sheath enveloping the muscles to provide pain relief, usually for up to a day.  Also, the medication Exparel is an extended release, long-acting form of this anesthetic that may last up to 3 days.   Some surgeons may also place pain pumps, which continuously drip this anesthetic atop your abdominal wall to give pain relief for up to 5 days.   All are very effective in controlling some of the pain post-tummy tuck procedure, however,  with a small extra cost involved, but may be worth it.  Hope that this helps!  Thank you for the question!