How Soon Can You Begin Laser Treatment on Tummy Tuck Scar After Surgery and Is It Necessary?

I would advise you to wait at least 3 weeks and preferably more in the range of 4 months pior to undergoing laser treatment.

It is not necessary to get a laser treatment for your tummy tuck scar, since it will eventually heal into a fine thin line on its own with proper care over about a year. But if you want to minimize its appearance, scar treatments can be performed once the incision is sealed and there is no crusting. 

Tummy tuck scars usually heal very well. It is usually not necessary to have lasar treatment subsequently. It is going to take some time for your scar to heal, but within a year you will see the final result. It is best to wait a full year before deciding to have lasar treatment done.

Thank you for your post. In tummy tuck and other lift/tightening surgeries, tension is the enemy. The scar is healing gradually over 12 weeks or so, and until it is strong, it is the weakest link. As there is a great deal of tension in tummy tucks, body lifts, breast lifts, etc., the scar is at high risk of 'stretching' or widening. Silicone sheeting, although having the ability to make a scar flat, does nothing to prevent stretching of the scar. Creams or steroids or lasers also do not have the ability to prevent stretching of the scar. Those are used if scar is thick or dark, but not to reduce the wideness of the scar, which is the main problem. Massage also does not help keep the scar thin, and can actually worsen the scar in the first 12 weeks because you are actually adding tension to the scar. Massage is for softening a hard or thick scar, but if used early, will hasten the scar widening. Only tension reduction has the ability to keep the scar as thin as possible. You may notice in a lot of tummy tuck scars that the center portion of the scar is the widest with the sides toward the hips being the thinnest. This is because the maximum tension is at the center, and least amount on the sides. Embrace removes a lot of the tension by putting more tension on the skin on either side of the incision and drawing the incision together. It is expensive though at about $100 per week for 12 weeks. When patients do not want to spend the money for embrace, I tape the incision trying to remove as much tension as possible for 12 weeks and recommend no stretching back and to sit most of the time, keeping tension off the scar.Best wishes,Pablo Prichard, MD

Laser therapy is often performed for pink or raised postsurgical scars. The issue is that the majority of these scars will flatten and lighten without any treatment. Given the fact that laser therapy for these scars is often very expensive, why not give the scars a little time to mature and improve?

What's the hurry? Allow full scar healing for at least  6 months. From MIAMI Dr. Darryl j. Blinski

Picture would have helped. You may benefit more from scar revision if you have raised scar. I would suggest no treatment for at least six months after surgery.

Laser treatment of scars is over-rated and over-used in my opinion. Helaing and scarring go through known phases and laser treatment on a scar that is going through its normal inflammatory and proliferative stages is unnecessary and invites complications. Unless your scars are abnormal, give it time to do its physiological "thing."

You have to realize that scars go through a natural evolution.  Initially they are quite thin, and then get thicker and red by 2 months as a result of unorganized collagen build up.  With time, the collagen re-orients according to the local tension as scars mature.  The redness of scars is caused by both the blood vessels of the actively maturing scar, as well as cells called myofibroblasts that help shrink the scars.  I recommend scar treatment with either creams (Mederma or ScarGuard) or silicone sheeting.  Let the scar run its course to maximize the benefits of scar contracture.  It is rare that laser treatments are necessary.  I wrote a web page that reviews this in detail, and also shows how a typical abdominoplasty scar progresses with a morphed video - have a look.

Dr.B

Tummy tuck scars usually heal very well; most likely you will not need any laser treatment.  In addition, the incision is usually placed low on your abdomen, which can be easily hidden.  For rare patients when they develop keloid, they may need scar treatment: radiation, steroid injection.  For hyperpigmented (dark) scar, laser may help.  However, scars heal and remodel over a course of 1 year.  So you should wait about a year before thinking of getting a laser treatment.  Please see your plastic surgeon if you are concerned about your scar.