8 months post op & belly button just started draining a bit of smelly fluid, what should I do?

Thank you for your question. In some cases, reaction to the stitches occur while you are healing. If it is not treated in a timely matter, it may cause infection. Please check with your surgeon to make sure there’s no infection

drainage from the belly button so far out from your surgery often times can be an infection of the stitch that was used to tie your muscles together. Many surgeons use permanent sutures to tie the muscles together, myself included. These can on occasion become infected, and usually the first symptom will be what appears to be a pimple, which then drains some purulent fluid. Sometimes you can actually even see the suture which may be a black or green color. It’s important to go to your surgeon because they may have to remove the suture.

Thank you for submitting your questions, I'm sorry to hear that you're having this postoperative experience. Drainage from the belly button can be caused by multiple things. It could be a reaction to sutures just beneath the skin. It could be a deeper fluid collection that is trying to drain itself out from that area. It could be an infection or reaction to sutures used with the muscle repair. I definitely recommend you see your plastic surgeon or another board certified plastic surgeon to seek treatment. Good luck and thanks again for reaching out.