1.5 yrs Post tummy tuck, Foul odor coming from belly button area. What can be causing this and how can it be treated?

If your belly button opening is small, skin oils and flaked skin cells are piling up inside. There is a small chance that an absorbable suture is still trying to work its way out and causing some drainage. Either way, please clean inside gently with a q tip and paint with Betadine solution. Please let your surgeon examine you.

Please see your surgeon or primary care physician as soon as you can. This sounds like an infection. It is not normal, being so long after surgery, and should be addressed sooner than later.

Thank you for your question regarding 1.5 yrs Post tummy tuck; foul odor coming from the belly button area. What can be causing this? The foul odor is probably indicative of an infection. The infection is probably due to a spitting suture. Since you are a year and a half out from your abdominoplasty or tummy tuck, the spitting suture is probably related to the rectus abdominis muscle repair. Without pictures or a physical examination, if I had to guess, I believe your body is rejecting your muscle repair permanent sutures. Alternatively, the skin may have eroded above the tummy tuck permanent sutures. The erosion or rejection of the sutures may have led to a small opening which then caused the sutures to become secondarily infected. I would suggest a board-certified plastic surgeon examine you. Typically this is treated with oral antibiotics and antibiotic cream. Most cases resolve in this fashion. However, if this becomes persistent, you may need the removal of sutures and later revision repair of the muscle. I hope this helps answer your question regarding 1.5 yrs Post tummy tuck, Foul odor coming from belly button area.