8 Years Since Tummy Tuck. Navel Has Never Healed. Frequent Discharge with Foul Odor. Help

If you are still having problems with a belly button infection eight years after a tummy tuck, you should definitely see a plastic surgeon.  You may have an infected suture (such as those used to tighten your muscles).  It will probably be necessary to have surgery to clean out the infected area, but obviously that decision should be made in consultation with your experienced plastic surgeon.

The problem you describe sounds classic for an infected foreign body with drainage out of the path of least resistance - your belly button scar. This could be hair, an infected stitch or seroma (fluid collection). The right thing to do is return to the OR for wound exploration and removal of the offending foreign body.

Intermittent and chronic drainage from the belly button area after a tummy tuck indicates that there is a cyst associated with the imbilical tract.  Given that you are a male with hair-bearing abdominal skin, there must be an area inside the umbilical tract that has growing hair, trapped skin or both. This certainly needs to be revised with the opening of the tract and excision of the involved skin. It is likely that hair-bearing skin from the surrounding abdominal area got pulled down into the newly made belly button. With removal of this skin area, with either chronic packing or a small skin graft, this should solve the problem.

Hi Wayne, read your information and initially thought that this was a routine case of a retained suture (AKA foreign body) causing your symptoms. However, your history of a revision finding hair makes me think that what you really have may be a Pilonidal cyst (or more correctly, 'sinus'). These are rare, and likely under diagnosed in the umbilicus. Normally seen near the buttock cleft, they contain hair and cellular debris which causes inflammation and discharge. Standard treatment is to excise the umbilicus, but if the sinus tract can be identified and excised one can avoid removing the entire umbilicus. Unfortunately, recurrence rate can be as high as 30-40%.

My advise is to seek a plastic surgeon who completed a general surgery training program or a general surgeon who routinely treats Pilonidal cysts. Good luck.

Dear Wayne,

 

It sounds like you are having a real problem with this.  You have put up with it for 8 years!

I don't blame you for wanting the belly button removed and of course, this is an option.  I agree with the other contributors that it is most likely due to a chronically infected foreign body and is worth exploration.  If you are very hairy, have you tried shaving the area around the belly button and keeping the area religiously clean to see if it may dry up?  Also if you are overweight and a smoker, this will not help the healing.

I really hope that you can get this sorted out.  Good luck! 

I agree, you need to go back to surgery and have your surgeon find the culprit.  It could be a number of things as listed in the previous post.  I don't think it will ever get better if you don't. There is probably a track from the belly button to the foreign body that can be followed and then removed/excised.  Good luck! Dr. McCormack

Your problem should be solvable without removing your belly button.  This could look strange in the end.

I would advocate a return to the OR and the injection of blue dye down the tract.  This will guide the surgeon to the complete removal of the involved area and will let him know if the problem was hair, retained permanent suture or anything else.

 

I advise you see your surgeon.

The causes might include remaining ingrown hair, retained/infected suture, chronic sinus tract/cyst.

Your surgeon will want to explore the area carefully with adequate anesthesia for your comfort.

Even frustrated as you are, "removing the belly button completely" may not be necessary.