Abdominal Irregularities after a Tummy Tuck in Oxnard: One Year After Surgery

A few days after seeing another surgeon's patient, who was unhappy with a painful abdominal bulge one week after a tummy tuck, into my office walks in another dissatisfied 45-year-old tummy tuck patient from Oxnard--but she is one year after her surgery.

I had a tummy tuck approximately 12 months ago.  My upper abdomen is perfect, but, right underneath my belly button on the right side, there is a bulge.  I have no idea what this is from.  Is it a weakness in my muscles?

The potential causes of this irregularity are different one year after surgery than they are immediately after an operation....

• inadequate fat excision or liposuction at the time of the surgery (which is an artistic error)
• inadequate or asymmetrical skin excision (which is also an artistic error)
• muscular weakness (either because the stitches used to tighten the muscles came loose or because recent weight fluctuations re-stretched out the muscles in some areas)
• chronic seroma (which is a benign fluid collection that never fully resolves on its own)
• organized hematoma (which is the scar that replaces an undrained blood collection)
• organized fat necrosis (which is the scar that replaces dead fat cells)

In most of the above circumstances, repeat surgery is required to correct the complication.  However, a mini-abdominoplasty approach is usually adequate, and the full incision does not usually need to be reopened.

Comments

[Saint Davids Botox]

It really stinks when you have to go back and have a surgery to fix the problems from the last surgery. What really helps is making sure you get the right doctor in the first place. People should look for one with experience and the proper training. Maybe then they wouldn't have to come back in a year to fix it.

[Victor]

Hi Dr. :
I had an abdominoplasty about seven weeks ago, inthe morning my stomach is flat (exactly how I wanted) but later in the day my lower stomach bulge out and I feel tenderness in the area, the bulge becomel bigger if I sit and stand up (in this process I feel abdominal muscle spasm),this normal? or this will be like this forever?

Thanks
Victor

[Michael Pickart]

Dear Victor,

Nice to meet you...electronically!

Do not fear the worst. It has only been seven weeks since your operation, and your results are still fresh. There is still residual swelling, and the muscle repairs and skin incisions are not fully healed. Those spasms are almostly certainly normal.

However, definitely see your plastic surgeon. I suspect that you are healing fine, but please ask him whetheryour bulgecould be a seroma (a collection of fluid beneath the skin flaps). Seromas can usually be treated by aspiration (simple removal of fluid with a needle, under local anesthetic, in the office).

I hope this helps! You are always welcome to get a second opinion in my office in Ventura, California. My telephone number is 805-648-4567.

Sincerely,
Mike Pickart

Michael C. Pickart, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Pickart Plastic Surgery, Inc.

428 Poli St.,#2C, Ventura, CA 93001
(805) 648-4567 | fax (805) 641-0811

To: info@pickartplasticsurgery.com