4 Important Steps To Tummy Tuck Recovery

1. How Long Does It Take To Recover From A Tummy Tuck?
2. Advantages of Silicone Scar Sheets

Are you looking into getting a tummy tuck to remove that extra belly fat that just won’t let go? If so, you’ll probably know that a tummy tuck is a surgical cosmetic procedure that removes excess skin and sometimes fat in the abdominal area. Tummy tucks usually also involve bellybutton reconstruction if enough skin is removed.

In this blog, we’re going to take a look at a few common questions about the tummy tuck procedure: how long does it take to recover from a tummy tuck,how to heal from a tummy tuck, and how to take care of a tummy tuck incision. Let’s dive right in.

As with any surgery, you can expect to be out of commission for at least a couple of weeks. Most people see complete wound closure around one and half weeks after their surgery. This may be delayed in patients that developed an infection or did not care for their wound properly.

Full recovery can take up to six weeks – especially for patients who also had a diastasis recti (separated abdominal muscles, usually due to pregnancy) repair during their surgery.

If you’re wondering how to take care of a tummy tuck incision, always start by looking at your discharge papers from your surgeon. Your instructions will include information about the specific type of closure your surgeon used and may include information about any drainage lines that may have been placed. In general, though, you should follow these tips when caring for a surgical incision:

• Keep the area clean and dry

• Do not use soaps on your incision for the first week or so

• Only pat dry your incision – avoid rubbing

• Keep compression over your incision (many offices will provide a band for you to use) to help the spot heal flat

• Limit activity until you are feeling better

• Don’t be afraid to take pain medication – pain management actually helps the healing process

• Contact your doctor right away if you develop a fever or smelly discharge from your incision

• Do not use any scar heal products until your wound has fully closed

Next, you’ll need to know how to heal a tummy tuck scar. Now that your incision is completely closed (and you have the all-clear from your doctor), you can start focusing on the scar itself. Keep in mind that, though scars can fade, your tummy tuck scar will likely never completely disappear. This is just due to how scar tissue forms and restructures itself.

The best product for scar healing is – hands-down – silicone scar sheeting. Here at Scintera, we’ve taken this industry-leading concept and created surgery-specific sheeting that you can easily select after your procedure. For tummy tuck procedures, the shape and length of sheeting is going to depend on how your doctor closed up after the surgery.

Most patients will have an elongated c-section-like scar. The scar may extend from hip to hip, depending on how much skin was removed. If your scar is on the smaller side, our 30cm sheet may be enough for you. If not, you can go with our 55cm sheet and cut it down to size.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive scar healing solution, check out our scar heal kits – specifically our Tummy Tuck kit. These kits also contain a tube of our ScarSil silicone gel product; use this during the day for 24-hour coverage of your scar. If you’re worried about the discoloration of your scar, check out our Scar Esthetique Silicone Scar Cream.