Drainless Tummy Tuck

A Drainless Tummy Tuck, or abdominoplasty, is performed in a certified surgery center as an outpatient. Some patients are able to go home after surgery, but most stay one night at an aftercare facility.

Surgery is typically about 2-3 hours, but can vary from patient to patient.

Expect to arrive about an hour or so before surgery, and stay in the recovery area about that long before going home or heading to the aftercare facility.

Risks Specific to Abdominoplasty:

• Skin discoloration and swelling: Bruising and swelling are common initially but can sometimes be prolonged.

• Scarring: Visible and potentially unfavorable scarring. Scars are permanent but usually fade over time.

• Poor wound healing: Slow healing, wound separation (dehiscence) or tissue breakdown (necrosis), not common but especially frequent for smokers and others with healing risk factors.

• Changes in skin sensation: Numbness or increased sensitivity, or pain in the abdominal area or upper thighs, which is typically temporary but in rare cases permanent.

• Asymmetry: Unevenness in the contour or healing of the abdomen, not common but could require revision procedure if occurs.

• Seroma: Accumulation of fluid beneath the skin, not common but would likely require drainage if it occurs.

• Hematoma: Collection of blood under the skin, not common but could potentially require further surgery.

• Belly button distortion: Changes in the appearance or position of the belly button.

Surgical Risks as Part of Any Surgery:

• Blood clots (deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, venous thromboembolism): Formation of blood clots in the legs or lungs, which can be serious. The risk of this depends on each person’s individual risk factors, which are assessed for every patient.

• Infection: Development of an infection at the incision site or internally, very infrequent.

• Bleeding: Excessive bleeding during or after the surgery, very infrequent.

• Adverse reactions to medications or anesthesia: Complications arising from the medications or anesthesia, very rare.

Every surgery has risks. Getting a personalized assessment is key, and at SoCal OncoPlastic Surgery that’s is free (no consultation fee).

Initial healing. The tummy provides crucial core strength for every day activities & strenuous workouts. After surgery the tummy will feel usually uncomfortably tight and firm. This slowly improves over weeks and months. Most patients need about 7-10 days at home after surgery.

For sedentary jobs, most patients can return to work within 2 weeks. For physically demanding jobs, recovery may take up to 6 weeks before returning to work.

Complete healing including the return of normal tummy sensation as well as full exercises without restrictions typically requires about 3 months.

Patients need to avoid strenuous exercise and heavy lifting for several weeks after a tummy tuck. Initially you can start with short walks and slowly increase. Full and unrestricted exercise can typically resume in about 3 months.

Tummy tucks are very commonly combined with liposuction. These are complimentary procedures that work well together.

Tummy tucks are also very commonly combined with breast rejuvenation surgery - augmentation or lift.

Drainless Tummy Tucks typically cost between $12,000 and $20,000, depending on various factors.