The following post from our forum is from a 67 year old women who had a tummy tuck 2 months ago and now she has pain and swelling. She is wondering if all this is normal.

Date: 11/20/2011 Submitted by: JanPain And Swelling 2 Months After Tummy Tuck

It’s been 2 months since my tummy tuck. I am just now able to sleep without my binder on. I can’t go during the day without it as I end up having pain and a lot of swelling. Is this usual… I’m 67 and thought maybe because I’m older it is taking longer to heal. I wasn’t real large to begin with and just had the loose skin removed and my abs repaired. The skin just feels so tight from the swelling. I tried an ice pack and it helped some.

RESPONSE

Date: 11/20/2011 Submitted by: Tanner

Jan,

From what I understand, swelling two months after tummy tuck surgery isn’t unusual. I have talked (vial email) with a lot people who have had swelling much longer than that.

Regarding the pain, I can’t give you an opinion on that because I never had any pain associated with my surgery. Depending on the severity of the pain and it’s location you may want to call your doctor and ask him/her.

You could be right about it taking you longer to heal, it seems to make sense, but then again everyone heals at different rates. You could be just a slow healer.

You also may want to continue wearing your compression garment at night while you are sleeping. You may be twisting and turning while you sleep and the compression garment is know to aid in the reduction of swelling.

I always found that wearing my compression garment at night was somewhat comforting as it kept everything in place throughout the night and I didn’t have to worry about pulling or twisting anything.

Good luck,

Tanner