Exparel - Realistically works for how long?

Thank you for your question.  I routinely inject Exparel for my tummy tuck procedures. It consistently provides pain relief for 72 hours following surgery. Please discuss this with your board certified plastic surgeon. Good luck with your surgery!.

I think that Exparel can be a helpful adjunct to pain control for tummy tucks. It can be helpful for other procedures too, but I rarely uses it for other procedures. I almost always use it for tummy tucks. I think that realistically it gives some benefit for 2-3 days. I also think it should be looked at as something that helps take the edge off, and helps make the other pain medications work better, but should not be expected to provide complete relief. Personally I like the benefit of not having to deal with a pain pump as an external device. Other people prefer pain pumps, and it can come down to personal preference as far as that goes. Both can provide benefit. I hope that helps.Take care, Dr. Howell

I have been using Exparel for my patients for about two to three years now and my patients have been very happy with it, it gives them pain relief for about 4 days. Good luck!

Exparel lasts for approximately 3 days.  It makes tummy tuck recovery much more reasonable and we use it for >90% of our patients.  The only down-side is the additional $350 cost, but is well worth it considering the pain relief.

I used Exparel for about a year and when we polled patients on their pain relief, most of them said it gave them less than 24 hours of pain relief.  It's very expensive for such little benefit.  So, I have gone back to using the pain pumps that last a full 3 days.