Tummy Feels Soft and Not Tight After Tummy Tuck

Abdominoplasty ( tummy tuck ) involves removal of extra skin and fat in the lower abdomen, using an elongated football pattern for the skin and fat tissue excision. It may also involve tightening of the vertically oriented rectus ( sit-up ) muscles, with the use of sutures. Not every surgeon will do a muscle tightening or plication with every abdominoplasty. This will based upon whether or not you have been pregnant or been heavier with subsequent weight loss. These factors may stretch the muscles further to the side than normal and lead a surgeon to do a muscle plication for the abdominoplasty patient. If the intra-operative anatomy of the rectus muscles shows that there is no separation of the rectus muscles, your surgeon may choose not to do a rectus tightening.

At 9 days, there could be enough residual swelling after the tummy tuck to to add padding over the area of the tummy tuck so that you cannot feel the muscle wall, even if your surgeon did a muscle layer tightening. You should ask him if the rectus muscles were plicated as part of your procedure.

If no plication of the muscles was performed, then softness of your abdomen may be an expected finding. You should wait 3-4 weeks for the swelling to subside before concluding that your abdomen is or is not firm and tight.

It is important that you clarify with your Board Certified Plastic Surgeon what was done as part of your procedure to understand whether or not the softness of your abdomen is what is to be expected. Hope this leads you to a better understanding and an answer for your post-operative observations.