How long should I wait after knee replacement three months ago, to have a tummy tuck?

A tummy tuck is a difficult recovery.  You will likely be bent over for awhile with back discomfort and difficulty getting up from bed, ect.  You must be able to weight bear easily and able to ambulate every hour to avoid blood clots. Listen below to how to avoid blood clots. After knee surgery you should be very mobile. It could be 3 - 12 months depending on the person.

Dear Tahita66,most surgeons recommend to wait for at least 6 months to get another surgery. If you are considering a surgery, I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon to discuss this. Daniel Barrett, MD, MHA, MS 
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery  
Member, Am. Society of Plastic Surgery

Thanks for the question, its so nice to see the types of questions patients are asking as they are so important. Tummy tucks increase your risk of blood clots just like a knee replacement, if you overlap the risk it could be awful! I would suggest if you were my patient to wait until you were walking as if you never had surgery meaning you had no restrictions on moving around because moving around keeps the blood flowing!

It sounds like you are still in recovery from the knee replacement if you are not off the pain pills and still not fully mobile. That being said, you should wait until you are back to normal to have a tummy tuck. It is a large procedure, and being that it is elective, I would recommend holding off and letting your body heal. When you are ready be sure to see a board certified plastic surgeon and good luck! 

I would recommend waiting until you have fully recovered from your knee replacement.  The recovery from a tummy tuck will be difficult if you are not fully mobile.

It is great that you are active and feeling great and will enough to have a second surgery. In general I would be more comfortable with patients waiting 6 months to a year after having a knee replacement before having any cosmetic surgery. There is always a risk of infection that could cause your implant to need to be removed, or a higher risk of blood clot given that you have an artificial knee. Anytime you have a major procedure done even a root canal or dental scaling you should consider pre-surgical antibiotics for a period of time as recommended by your orthopedic doctor. Although every effort is made to have a sterile environment there is no such thing as a germ-free surgery. I would not want to risk losing the orthopedic implant over a cosmetic procedure. As other Physicians on this thread have noted you will need to be mobile after your surgery. Walking is extremely important to keep the circulation moving and it will make you feel better postoperatively. Good luck to you! 

Thanks for the great question! There are a couple of things that should be in place prior to you having surgery. The first is making sure that you're mobile enough and are steady walking. Being up and walking is very important right after a tummy tuck. The next is to make sure that you're within 10-15lbs of your goal weight. This will help you to get the best results possible from your surgery. You can always see a surgeon for a consultation for more information and schedule the surgery once you're recovered a little more from your knee surgery. I hope this helps and happy recovery!~Dr. Sieber