Tummy tucks can produce belly buttons that are too round, too narrow or too tight and have a visible circular scar around them. “This is often a dead giveaway for a tummy tuck.”
If you have good scars, a normal-looking belly button and natural abdominal contours, hardly anyone will be able to tell you have had tummy tuck. They will simply admire your flat, firm abdomen!
The abdomen will probably be covered in bandages for a few days. You also will be quite sore and swollen for at least one or two weeks. After the bandages are removed, there will be a lot of swelling, and the incision will be noticeable. After the stitches are removed after a few weeks, the scar will fade over a year.
It usually looks even better than it did before the surgery! The best plastic surgeons understand that an attractive, natural-looking belly button is critical to the overall aesthetic outcomes of surgery. One of the fastest ways to spot a poorly performed tummy tuck is an uneven or asymmetrical belly button.
Most people will not notice even major changes to your appearance unless you explicitly tell them about it.
Is the Belly Button Removed? In most cases of full tummy tuck, the belly button does not get removed; in fact, it does not get moved at all. It stays in place, and the skin around it moves. The tummy tuck incision is made low on the abdomen, and the abdominal skin is lifted.
The natural belly button is removed completely at the same time, because its new location ends up much lower than before and it would look very strange to have a navel set that far down. This is why your tummy tuck surgeon creates a new belly button.
Umbilicoplasty is a great option for patients who are unhappy with their belly button after they have fully healed form their tummy tuck procedure. This cosmetic procedure is common after pregnancy or tummy tuck. It gives the belly button a more vertical (versus horizontal), aesthetically pleasing shape.
Additionally, the skin, muscles, and fat of the abdomen were all repaired or altered during the procedure. These structures need time to heal and settle into their new positions. This causes inflammation, swelling, and other temporary side effects that can contribute to the look of the stomach.
Where do patients gain weight after a tummy tuck? During body contouring procedures like a tummy tuck, fat cells are eliminated from the body and cannot return. Because of this, patients may gain weight in other places like the buttocks, legs, arms, and breasts.
Most women lose between 2 and 3 pants sizes after a tuck, but there are patients who lose even more. If you had a lot of loose skin before the procedure, for example, you could go down 4 more pants sizes.
A tummy tuck can result in a weight loss of approximately four pounds. If you opt for a mini truck, you can expect to lose around three pounds of excess skin and fat. If you opt for an extended tuck, you can expect to lose around five pounds of excess skin and fat.
Tummy tuck surgery results will vary depending on a person's age. For example, a younger patient can expect to see very smooth abdominal skin after abdominoplasty. However, an older patient's skin is typically less elastic than that of a younger person and won't automatically “snap back” to fit the body's new contours.
It's common to see post-tummy tuck patients whose torso ends up look squared or boxy, which can often look unnatural or even masculine. A successful, natural-looking tummy tuck should result in both a smooth tummy and a symmetrical, feminine contour around the hips, waist, and flanks.
This study found that 8.2% reported pain within the past week between 3 months and 9 years after abdominoplasty, most often located under the umbilicus in the same location as the incision line, suggesting direct nerve injury in this area as the primary cause.
Pseudobursa are conspicuous bulges that form under the abdominal soft tissue following surgery due to a pocket of thick scar tissue. Often part of the body's natural healing process, pseudobursa commonly form above the waistline incision or above the belly button.
A Good Tummy Tuck Shouldn't Require a Marble
An experienced cosmetic surgeon should be able to create a belly button that looks natural after you heal from your tummy tuck. However, it's important to remember that healing takes time.
Pseudo bursa is essentially pocket under the skin with significant scaring around it. It's a more common complication after liposuction and tummy tuck, specifically if the technique involves heat which could potentially create exaggerated scarring.
There is an art to tummy tuck because simply removing excess skin and fat will not look good. For an aesthetically-pleasing look, your doctor must tighten up the area to achieve the kind of contour that appears on natural bodies, resting well against your ribs. Part of that art is dictated by the gender of the patient.
Swelling after a Tummy Tuck Is Normal
In this area of the body, the blood vessels and lymphatic vessels work as a drainage system for fluids. During a tummy tuck, these vessels are cut. Because of this, the body removes fluid in the area a lot slower, resulting in fluid buildup known as edema or swelling.
Some tummy tuck patients experience weight gain after surgery and notice increased abdominal fat as a result. The fat tends to appear in the upper part of the abdomen while the lower abdomen remains relatively flat.
To have the best outcome from your procedure, you will need to wear compression garments for at least 6 to 8 weeks after tummy tuck surgery.
However, there are instances wherein some patients who went through tummy tuck procedures have belly button which is not placed in the midline. This is nothing to worry about because it is just simply an anatomical asymmetry.
Swelling 3 Weeks after Tummy Tuck
As with any other surgical procedure, swelling after tummy tuck is typical to occur in the lower abdominal area. Three weeks after surgery, most patients feel very swollen and even experience hardness around the belly button.