Can coughing damage or pop the sutures used for muscle repair?

Thank you for your questions and congratulations on your surgery. Sometimes severe coughing can cause an issue with the plication of the abdominal wall muscles.  Normally it's not a issue and obviously coughing can't be avoided all the time.  I would recommend just holding a pillow or something against the abdominal area to help decrease the discomfort of the cough.  If you start to see a bulge in the area then follow up with your surgeon.  Best of luck to you. 

Thank you for you question.Coughing and sneezing after Tummy tuck surgery may cause tightness and pain.But any serious injury is minimal, to press a pillow to the abdomen when feeling coughing will be reduce your pain and stress in scar tissue and sutures.
All the best in your journey.

At this point in your recovery, I would not worry about the strength of the sutures or the healing of the muscle repair.  Although a cough could potentially compromise the muscle plication, cough is sometimes unavoidable.  If there are no bulges you are likely fine.  

Dear Newyork9022,it is unlikely that coughing caused any damage to your muscle repair. However, if you have any symptoms and concerns, I suggest you to consult your plastic surgeon. Daniel Barrett, MD

Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Thank you for sharing your question and congratulations on your tummy tuck procedure.  After 4 months it would be extremely unlikely that any cough would lead to failure of your muscle repair as it should have healed.  Hope this helps.

Hi.  While anything is certainly possible, it would be extremely unlikely that this far out you would pop a suture from the muscle repair.  You have likely healed that repair pretty well at this point such that the sutures are not doing as much of the work.  Certainly, if you have any concerns then contact your plastic surgeon for them to evaluate you.Good luck and take care,Dr. Howell

This far out from surgery it is unlikely that coughing from allergies would lead to any damage to your muscle repair. You may experience some muscle soreness if the coughing is persistent, but it typically would not impact your surgical result.

There are times when frequent, hard coughing can cause some problems with the stitches especially in the early stages of healing, but it doesn't mean that simple cough will already damage the sutures. The stitches can hold up to a certain degree of pulling force and will not break easily. A abdominal support or binder may be helpful in controlling the sudden expansion of the abdominal wall during coughing. 

Thanks for the question.  It is very rare to pop a suture due to coughing.  The sutures are usually stronger than the tissue that they are sewn though.  There may be times with the tissue tears a bit from trauma, but that is common.  At 13 weeks, I am pretty confident that you are almost fully healed.Good luck with your cold.Dr T

At 13 plus weeks, things are pretty healed at the level of sutures to the muscles in a tummy tuck. If you are REALLY coughing hard then hold a pillow up to your tummy for support. Although you may have lingering pain and or tenderness at the area of muscle repair, this is very rarely due to suture disruption and surely less frequently from coughing. Relax!