Could the muscles have separated after a tummy tuck a couple of years ago? (photo)

During your tummy tuck, your muscles were tightened. Sometimes the repair becomes undone in a certain area and that area can bulge out, you would need another procedure to go back in and re-tighten or reinforce that area. Hope this helps!

Johnson C. Lee, MD
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon

The muscles will separate slightly with increased intra-abdominal pressure after a tummy tuck but this is fairly slight in comparison to how tight most plastic surgeons do muscle tightening.

The biggest reason patients believe they have abdominal muscle laxity after having a tummy tuck is because of increased visceral fat. I’m not sure if that’s the case for you. It typically would not present with exercise the way you described.

In some patients the rectus muscles get buried or partially buried in an attempt to do extreme muscle tightening.

Regardless, there probably isn’t much to do about it at this point.

I’m not sure if anyone can give you a truly accurate answer to what your concern is.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD