Swelling Has Increased After Stopping Compression and Resuming Exercise. What to Do?

Wearing a compression garment or abdominal binder will help in the early healing after a tummy tuck. It helps compress the tummy and reduces the initial swelling. It also helps the swelling go down over time. In my practice I like to have my patients wear their garment for 2-3 weeks after surgery. Once the last drain is out I recommend that they use the garment for another day or two. Many patients like the feeling and support of wearing the garment and choose to wear it longer. As long as it is fitting well and not chaffing your skin there is nothing wrong with wearing your garment for an extended period of time.

Whether you wear it for 2 weeks or 10 weeks, once you take it off and resume normal activity you may find that your tummy gets a little swollen again. This rebound swelling is normal. After taking a long time off from activity you will increase a little inflammation once you begin moving around again. The swelling will resolve fairly quickly on its own. In fact, the more active you are the faster you will return to normal. Of course, you shouldn't over-do it. But as long as you're comfortable with your activities you can expect things to get back  to normal quickly.

I hope this info helps!

It is normal for the post operative swelling to vary from day to day and can take several months to fully resolve. After you stop wearing the garment at 6 weeks and are slowly returning to normal physical activities, some patients experience an increase, albeit temporary in this degree of swelling. For this reason many patients continue to wear the garment beyond 6 weeks to control this longer term fluctuating swelling. I also recommend to perform gentle daily massage to these areas to help control the swelling and facilitate the settling process.

I agree with the others that this is normal occurrence post-op, and this quickly started flow could be causing this swelling and it will subside.You may need your activity to be a bit lighter than tried initially to allow blood flow to return regularly to your core during full exercise. Be sure to give your incisions and muscles time to recover fully, so after about six weeks you should be OK to increase it again to higher cardio aerobic activity, and then release to full, unlimited exercise at the end of week 8. It sounds like that may be difficult for someone living in your level of activity, but you don’t want to push anything and risk damage.

It’s not unusual for patients who have undergone
abdominoplasty and liposuction to experience discomfort and swelling when they
resume strenuous physical activity.These
procedures have a significant impact on the abdominal wall soft tissue.In many cases, surgical incisions and passage
of the liposuction cannula have resulted in damage to blood supply and
lymphatic channels.In addition,
patients are in the middle of the wound healing process and its associated
inflammatory changes.When
patients resume strenuous activity, they maximally stress the lymphatic
drainage of the area and in some cases exceed its capacity to adequately remove
fluid.This is made worse by the absence
of a compression garment.This can lead
to the swelling that you describe.When
this situation arises, it’s important to be patient.This is a normal phenomena that occurs with
almost every patient who undergoes these procedures.It’s important to go slow at first and listen
to your body.It might be helpful to
continue using your compression garment and start a low salt diet.In some cases, massage is helpful as well.If the
problem fails to resolve, consultation with your plastic surgeon is
appropriate.Under these circumstances,
it may be appropriate to obtain a CT scan to rule out an abdominal wall
seroma.In the vast majority of patients
these studies are negative and patients continue to improve with time.

Don't worry about this too much. It's common for swelling to reappear after you've started exercising again and when you've stopped wearing your garment. This will go away with time, although may reappear again the next time you exercise. However, it will disappear as you progress in your recovery, which could take a few more months.

Hello! Thank you for your question!. The tummy tuck procedure is an
excellent method for contouring of your abdomen, often removing the
excess skin as well as tightening the abdominal wall. After nearly all
surgical procedures, a potential space is created from where the
surgical procedure/dissection was performed. This is especially true
for the tummy tuck, in where the abdominal flap is raised off of the
abdominal wall and then redraped atop the area to contour the abdomen.
The procedure alone promotes swelling and inflammation, which typically
lasts for 6-12 weeks. This may even last longer if liposuction has been
performed in addition. During this time, a few things may be done to
allow adherence of the abdominal skin/soft tissue to readhere to the
abdominal wall and close that space. Many surgeons use drains to
evacuate the expected serous fluid from building up. Stagnant fluid as
such may be a nidus for infection as well as does not allow the tissue
to adhere back to its normal anatomic position. Drains usually are
removed once output is <30cc/day - usually removed within 3-4 weeks
on average, sometimes longer. When this occurs, a seroma may develop -
which may require aspiration or surgical evacuation to rid this in order
to optimize your result. This is not an uncommon reason for
persistent swelling and/or bulging in a certain area of your belly. Of
course, thwarting the development of a pseudobursa, or seroma capsule,
is always best, to provide the best result as well as avoid any future
procedures for this. This may be a troubling consequence and often
compromises your overall result. Thus avoiding this complication, in
whatever manner, is the objective. "Drainless" tummy tucks are becoming
more popular - basically, the overlying tissue is physically sutured to
the abdominal wall to close the potential space. In addition, most
surgeons typically restrict vigorous activity/strenuous exercise as well
as lifting restrictions of usually <20#, especially the core, for
6-8 weeks to allow healing to continue. Most also often recommend an
abdominal compression-type binder or garment, which will serve to
provide
compression as well as assist to decrease swelling and eliminate the
dead-space of the area for at least 6 weeks as well. It may be worthwhile for you to continue some compression, especially during activitiies.  After the initial
binder, many patients like the Spanx garments. Most patients are
able to return to most activities within a couple of weeks, provided
they adhere to the restrictions. Overall, this is a procedure
with a high satisfaction rate. Discuss the procedure and postoperative
instructions/restrictions with your surgeon, as these will vary among
surgeons. Hope that this helps! Best wishes!

Swelling is very common after resuming exercise after a tummy tuck. You should see your surgeon just to make sure it's not serious. Your compression garment is designed to help ease the swelling so it's good that you put it back on. You can help as well by drinking plenty of fluids and going to the washroom regularly.  This will subside gradually and may appear worse in the morning. Continue to wear your garment until it has resolved itself.

6 weeks is our magic number for healing, it just sounds like you need more time.  Keep the garment on, switch over to something more comfortable that still applies pressure but you can wear clothing comfortably over it such as spanks or spandex.  Limit your fluid and salt intake, that can contribute to edema.  Normally you'd be over this by now, but your body is requesting a little bit more time.  Progressively get back to things and you'll train it to complete normalcy.  Good luck!

This may be only swelling within the tissues (lymphedema) like a saturated sponge, but you should have your surgeon check to see if you have a seroma, which is a collection of fluid in a cavity beneath your skin that did not "stick down" and heal completely, or sheared with your increase in activity and reopened a pseudobursa that has collected blood or lymphatic (serous) fluid.

If the latter is the case, your surgeon may want to aspirate the fluid with a syringe and needle (don't worry, it will be placed through an area that has not recovered sensation yet!) one or more times, or even reinsert a drain for a few days until this area re-adheres and heals.

Though exercise at 6 weeks should in most cases be absolutely fine (I allow my patients to do this), the combination of tummy tuck AND liposuction may make this a slightly more likely possibility.

Schedule a recheck with your doctor as soon as possible if this swelling persists! Good luck!

Most patients will have swelling just above the tummy tuck incision, and this may take many months to resolve.

This will eventually clear no matter what you do. Wear a compression garment or spandex-type undergarment if it feels good to do so. If not then enjoy the freedom of wearing your usual clothing.

I would, however, check in with your plastic surgeon to make sure you have not developed a fluid collection (or seroma) which can require drainage.