
WALKING AFTER A TUMMY TUCK
A tummy tuck is an invasive procedure where the skin is excised and the abdominal muscles are tightened, recreating a nice figure, particularly if you have an hourglass tummy tuck. Patients may have the general impression that after surgery, you should stay in bed and not do anything at all. This is absolutely not true; beds are for sick people and not for patients who have had cosmetic surgery. I recommend that my patients start moving around the same day after a tummy tuck. You need to move to improve the blood flow from the legs; if you are not moving around, you can have serious complications including a blood clot. The surgery causes inflammation everywhere, and your heart and vital organs are working harder to withstand the stress of the surgery. When there is inflammation, the blood gets very thick and the body is in a hypercoagulable state, which can result in a blood clot. Also, when you stay in bed, particularly if you are not lying in the right anatomical position, you can develop atelectasis, which is a small collapse of the alveolus of the lung and makes it more likely for you to have respiratory problems and pneumonia.
I recommend that my patients walk around four or five times a day after surgery for about five to 10 minutes. Get out of bed, go to the kitchen, stay active, but do not lift anything heavy. The more active and mobile you are, the faster you will recover, since you are helping the lymphatic system to drain fluid as well as helping the body heal faster by improving perfusion in the legs and other areas.