Abdominoplasty Recovery: Our Top Tips to Follow
A successful, carefully planned abdominoplasty recovery is just as important as the steps of your surgery when it comes to your procedure’s results. Your recovery can help to support your body’s healing, prevent complications, and even reduce the visibility of scarring.
For personalised recovery instructions and a detailed, high quality procedure plan, the first step is to choose an experienced and qualified plastic surgeon. Based in Southport on the Gold Coast and Ballina in New South Wales, The Layt Clinic’s team consists of two highly experienced plastic surgeons, Dr Layt and Dr Cheng. When you’re ready to book your abdominoplasty consultation and receive your specific recovery instructions, please get in touch with our team.
In the meantime, read on for our general top tips to follow for a successful abdominoplasty recovery.
What is an abdominoplasty and why is it performed?
An abdominoplasty addresses excess skin, excess fat deposits, and muscle laxity on the abdomen. It uses surgical techniques, which sometimes includes liposuction, based on the patient’s particular needs. Excess skin and fat can be removed, and the underlying muscles can be tightened, to achieve a result that aligns with the patient’s aesthetic expectations.
The procedure isn’t performed as a weight loss procedure, but rather to address skin laxity and pockets of excess fat that can be present after significant weight loss, after pregnancy, or as a result of the natural ageing process. For candidates to be suitable, they should be at a healthy and stable weight before surgery.
An abdominoplasty is mainly performed for aesthetic purposes, to surgically change the appearance of the abdomen according to each patient’s personal preferences.
What to expect during recovery from an abdominoplasty
After any plastic surgery, it’s normal to experience some pain and discomfort, have some limitations on physical activity, and need to rest at home to allow your body to heal.
What you can expect during your abdominoplasty recovery will largely depend on the details of your procedure, which will be highly personalised. Discussing your recovery with your surgeon will help you know what to expect and how to prepare.
After surgery, patients are typically monitored in hospital for about two to three days, before they can return home to complete their recovery. Since an overnight stay is required, only certain hospitals are able to perform the procedure. Drains will be placed at the incision sites to help reduce fluid buildup, along with dressings, which can be removed about three days after your procedure.
Generally, the skin on the abdomen can feel partially or entirely numb after your procedure, which can last for several months or longer. Your abdomen can also feel tight, which can last for about a month or more. If you feel tingling or burning sensations, or shooting pains, this is typically because of the regeneration of the small sensory nerves in the area, which is normal. These sensations can take some time to fully subside.
Swelling and bruising are also common, and are indicative of the body’s healing process. There are some steps you can take to help manage swelling in particular, which we’ll delve into next.
Patients usually need to take two to four weeks off work to recover, but this will depend on your job. You’ll generally need to discuss the details of your work and lifestyle with your surgeon, so that they can make personalised recommendations.
After your abdominoplasty, you’ll be fitted with a binder to support the abdomen, aiding in skin elasticity and helping to tighten the area. Patients typically need to wear the binder for about six weeks, and can remove it to shower or for special occasions. You may also need to wear compression stockings to prevent blood clots.
Managing normal post-surgery discomfort
It’s normal to experience some level of swelling, bruising and pain after an abdominoplasty – but this can be minimised by taking certain steps.
Pain medication is commonly taken during abdominoplasty recovery, and the type will depend on your personal needs. Your surgeon can recommend or prescribe a suitable pain medication and provide directions on when and how often to take it.
While your binder can help to reduce swelling, following instructions on reducing physical activity will also help. The drains that will be placed in the area to collect fluid for one to three days after your procedure are also responsible for reducing swelling.
Our key tip to managing your post-surgery discomfort is to always closely follow your instructions for pain medication, any other medications you have been prescribed or instructed to take, and wearing compression garments.
Swelling and bruising are generally short-term effects, and usually begin to subside within one to two weeks after your procedure.
Reducing physical activity and what to avoid
Straight after your surgery, you’ll be limited in mobility and will need to avoid excessive exercise in the earlier weeks of your recovery. You can slowly increase your physical activity levels throughout your abdominoplasty recovery, once you are cleared by your surgeon.
Although your physical activity level will be limited, on your first day of recovery, you’ll still be encouraged to get out of bed as a complete lack of movement can increase the chance of certain complications. Gentle walking around the house is encouraged.
After about two to three weeks, you can resume light activities, such as working and more walking. However, you’ll need to avoid strenuous exercise and activities that can place strain or pressure on the abdomen for at least six weeks.
Caring for your incision sites and minimising scars
Correctly caring for your incision sites not only supports your overall healing, but it helps to minimise scars after an abdominoplasty.
The placement of the incisions will be determined by your surgeon before your procedure, so you will know where you can expect initial scarring to be placed. Usually, the incision is placed above the pubic region, but the length will depend on your needs.
Sometimes, another incision is placed around the belly button or another small vertical incision is needed. Your surgeon will take every possible measure to minimise the appearance of scars, but some level of scarring is completely normal after your body heals from surgery.
Once the drains are removed from the incision sites, you’ll need to follow your surgeon’s instructions on cleaning the area and replacing dressings, if needed. Sutures for an abdominoplasty are typically placed under the skin and therefore don’t need to be removed, but if sutures are placed around the belly button, these are normally removed about a week after surgery.
To minimise scarring, you can use silicone scar tape or gel for about eight to 12 weeks after your procedure. Scar tape is designed to support wound healing, which can prevent significant scarring and help flatten scar tissue. While it’s important to take these steps after your procedure, some degree of scarring is still normal, and the appearance of scars will vary from patient to patient. For some patients, scarring may take two years or more to become less noticeable. Some patients may seek further treatments, such as non-invasive skin treatments, to further reduce the appearance of scarring.
Preventing potential complications after surgery
Essentially, following all of your abdominoplasty recovery instructions will be important to minimise any complications.
However, since your instructions will be tailored to your personal needs, our top tip is to make sure that you fully disclose your health information to your surgeon during your consultation.
For example, wearing compression garments to prevent blood clots and taking antibiotics to prevent medication are important steps, but your surgeon may also need to instruct you to stop taking certain medication to prevent other complications.
During your consultation, be sure to let your surgeon know about your full medical history, past surgeries, current medications, and other current health conditions.
The Layt Clinic on the Gold Coast and Ballina: Plastic Surgeon’s Dr Craig Layt and Dr Paul Cheng
A successful abdominoplasty recovery begins with choosing an experienced and qualified plastic surgeon.
Based in Southport on the Gold Coast and Ballina in the Northern Rivers, The Layt Clinic’s surgeons Dr Layt and Dr Cheng are fully qualified plastic surgeons, with extensive experience performing a variety of procedures.
Dr Craig Layt is a Specialist Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, who has been providing Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery services to the Gold Coast and Northern Rivers Regions for over 23 years.
Dr Paul Cheng is a Specialist Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgeon, who extensively trained in New Zealand before relocating to Australia. He currently provides specialist service in the private sector at The Layt Clinic.
To book your consultation for an abdominoplasty with one of our experienced surgeons, please contact our team. You can also read more about the experience and qualifications of our surgeons here.