Infection - cause for concern?

Thank you for your question.  From your description it seems like you and your surgeon are on the correct track.  Keep the lines of communication open and you should recover uneventfully. All the best.

You are currently doing all the right things. Your PS appears to be doing all the right things.  With appropriate treatment the redness should resolve.  

Dr ES

The appearance of the incision in the photograph is worthy of concern. However redness along the suture line is not necessarily infection. Nevertheless, careful supervision by your plastic surgeon is important until the problem is resolved.

It sounds like the management has been appropriate. And it may take several days before you see improvement. 

If it still seems at a standstill, see your surgeon before the weekend to get a culture and ascertain that the choice of antibiotic matches the bacteria growing in the incision. A cephalexin antibiotic is usually a correct choice, but not always. 

All the best. 

It certainly sounds as though you and your surgeon are managing the situation correctly.  Removing the offending stitch will usually be all that is necessary to allow the body to heal.  While redness around a wound can be concerning, it is often a very normal response to any injury as the body begins it's processing of healing the wound which involves inflammation and thus localized redness.  Your visit to the doctor was the right choice to determine if this is 'normal' healing or a true infection.

There is certainly a cause for concern about an infection.  An infection can take many forms including a cellulitis, suture abscess or a deep abscess.  If this is a cellulitis it is treated with antibiotics, if this is a suture abscess then the infected suture must be removed or the area will never heal, if this is a deep abscess then the incision must be opened and the abscess drained.  Keep in close contact with your plastic surgeon's office.  If you develop increasing  pain, tenderness, redness, a fever and chills then you may need to be surgically drained.  Give the antibiotics 36 hours to work, if you have no improvement in that time let  your surgeon know.  

Many tummy tuck patients will develop extruding sutures along the incision line anytime from 3 to 6 weeks after surgery. This is very concerning to patients as the incision line looked so good right after surgery and appeared to healing fine. But, unfortunately, this is a normal process of how the incision heals and the underlying sutures dissolve. Some will get just one or two and, occasionally, others will get a bunch of them. When you get a fair number of them close together the area can become more like a cellulitis with generalized redness. So it is good you were placed on antibiotics but it will take a few days to see their effects. This is the right course of action for now.

Infections can and do occur after tummy tucks but fortunately they are rare.  When infection occurs it must be treated and the doctor ideally sees the patient daily until the infection subsides.     A line can be marked around the red area and it should subside in 24 hours.  If it does not on a drug like cephalixin, hospitalization or a new antibiotic must be considered.    If the red area gets larger and a higher temp is noted, hospitalization and an infectious disease consultation is needed.  Infection in the tummy tuck site is not a minor problem and needs qn immediate so0lution.  If the red area and temperature subsides then you are on the right course.   See your doctor daily.  My Best,  Dr C