The following post from our forum is from a man who had a tummy tuck three days ago and is concerned for the swelling in his groin area, numbness in his thigh and problems going to the bathroom after surgery.

Date: 09/12/2011 Submitted by: ArturoTummy Tuck Groin Swelling, Numbness & Bathroom Problems

I had my tummy tuck 3 days ago. Apparently all went well. I’m in absolutely no pain from the surgery.

There are three things bothering me, though.

First is a numbness at the left tight. Depending how I move I feel a deep pain at this same tight. At the hospital the doctor said it might be caused by the anesthesia needle hitting some nerve. Yesterday, when I changed the bandages I’ve noticed it was pressing a nerve at the top of my leg which was causing the pain in my tight. Have any of you gone through something like that? Will it go away?

Also since the beginning of day 2 my groin was swelling a big deal but today it’s pretty worse. My scrotum is almost black. I’ve called the doctor and he said it’s normal, but I doesn’t look good.

Finally, the first day I came home I went to the bathroom but couldn’t urinate. I returned to the bed, and felt bad in the way. I’ve decided to sit and then I blacked out, urinated myself and woke up 3 minutes later. Doctor said it was due to getting up to fast causing my pressure to drop.

Have any of you experienced something like this before?

RESPONSE

Date: 09/12/2011 Submitted by: Tanner

Arturo,

No, I have not had any deep pains in my thigh. If your bandages (and I assume your compression garment) are pressing against a nerve at the top of your leg, can’t you simply adjust the bandages to prevent it? If you can’t move the bandages you may be able to cut out the area of the compression garment that rubs against the nerve or use a large, spongy pad to cover and shield the nerve. It does sound like something that will subside with time.

As far as groin area swelling goes, it does SWELL. This is what I wrote about it shortly after my tummy tuck.

Tummy Tuck Swelling in the Groin Area
At one of my pre Tummy Tuck meetings, the nurse make a brief comment that there may be some swelling in the lower areas (I forget how she actually put it) but I gave it no thought. I didn’t know how “low” she meant. Now I do. Apparently the body fluids that were not drained off by the surgical drains made their way “downhill” towards the groin area causing noticeable swelling down there. An amusing thought came to me – “I paid $11,000 for a Tummy Tuck and got a “male enhancement” thrown in for free. Unfortunately it only lasted a month, then the swelling went down and everything was “back to normal”.

As far as the scrotum being “almost black”, I think I remember it being somewhat discolored (black and blue like a bruise) but that went away after about a week (I think).

As far a going to the bathroom to urinate is concerned I never had any problems. I would walk slowly over to the toilet, hold onto something to sit down, relax a minute or so then urinate. Everything I did was slow for the few days following my operation. I didn’t have any problems with dizziness or blacking out.

Hopefully in another day or so, two of your concerns will go away. The swelling may take a bit longer.
Good luck.
Tanner