Abdominal Seroma following Tummy Tuck

i have a 9 month old child who was dwlivered c section. During my 6 wk check up the ob gyn thought that i had an incisional hernia...come to find out it was a seroma and i was told to just let my body reabsorb the fluid. one morning i woke up with white pus oozing from an old suture site. the sermoa had become infected. my temp was 102. the seroma became an abcess and i was placed on antibiotics. I insisted that a wound culture be done. Come to find out the abscess contained staph and strep and i was on antiobiotics that would not kill these bugs.BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE--DRS DON'T ALWAYS KNOW BEST. After a 3 month course of antiobiotics,multipile dressing changes and a lot of pain i am left with a hard lump of scar tissue in my lower abdomen. >:( >:(

i had t.t 6 weeks ago .everything went great until build up of seroma. i have been three times to get it drained at docs local office. had to be freezed around tummy area as it is quite sore an uncomfortable. the first few times very red and bloody , the last time more clear like fluid. feel brill scar healing well but can feel a bit jelly belly in left side know already that i will need it syringed out again. everyone is different but my doc said it is very normal for this to happen. i wear a tight garment thought it was great knowing 6 weeks was up but very dissappointed to hear i have to wear it for 2 more weeks because of fluid. good luck to you all out there an just think of all the results when all settles down. it will be worth it.

In 6/07 I had a tummy tuck with liposuction of my abdomen, pubic and flank area. I didn't have any problems post op just had the drain tube for 8 weeks which really didn't concern the doctor or bother me. The work was beautiful. In October I started having the tearing abdominal pain that others have described along with very painful muscles that felt like I was in a fight with Mike Tyson. I was running low grade fevers, had abnormal liver fuction tests, nausia and painful swollen glands in various parts of my stomach. They didn't even consider the tummy tuck as a sorce of the problem and was looking at my internal organs. In a CT scan they could see a seroma that they believed had turned into an abscess. About the same time I learned about the results of a CT scan I started to develop a very deep, red, hot, and painful soft tissue infection just below my tummy tuck incision. I saw many docs and they all said that the internal abscess seen on the CT was not related to my external abscess. I'm not a rocket scientists but I couldn't see how that could be. When antibiotics didn't work and the abscess proceded to get worse they sent me to a surgeon. The surgeon read the CT and looked at this football size infection in my skin....very painful. He immediately said the abscess on the CT and the one on the outside is the some one adding that they just saw it before it reached the surface. He scheduled me for emergency surgery that evening 1/11/08. He removed what he referred to as being the most horrindous abdominal wall abscess he has ever sign and very boldly went onto say it was directly related to my tummy tuck. He said it was two to three times larger then what he could see or what was seen on the CT. Because this is the type of abscess that needs to heal from the inside out I have a football size and shape hole in my abdomen just above my hip. Since he had to remove alot of skin and tissue it is questionable as to whether or not i will have to have skin grafting. Either way I will have a horrible disfiguring scar. The wound will take months to heal.

I was in the dark. Never occured to me that I would have complications this long after surgery (6 months post op before DX). Additionally, I'm still having the tearing feeling and painful muscles which makes me want to ask the doc to do a CT to make sure there is no seperate pockets of infection waiting to erupt. My tummy tuck was a dream turned into my worse nightmare. Please pay attention to these type of symptoms and push your doc to look at the possibility of tummy tuck complications. Because I have also had a gastric bypass they are ALWAYS looking for complications there first. It took me 3 painful months to be diagnosed and by that time it was life threatening...still is with the possibility of infection with such a large open wound....as I said 3 painful months to be diagnosed and that wouldn't have happened had the abscess not surfaced when it did.

I'm not going to say not to get a tummy tuck done as many have positive results. Just really be educated about the complications. Had I been assertive in my concern that it was related to the tt i wouldn't have the hole in my side i do now.

so glad to have found this correspondence as like others, i was not told of the problem of seromas, only scarring and infections. at this point in time i just wish i had not had the surgery at all. i have the tearing feeling too, and also feel like i am going to burst out of my skin as the fliud builds up over the internvals between aspiration. it is all very depressing, isn't it? After two months, having had surgery in november 2007, i thought i would be wearing normal clothes, but i am still in jogging bottoms and look fatter than every. But is the total discomfort that is the worst thing.

I had surgery Aug 9th and had a seroma which I had surgery for Jan 9th and am still having fluid which the doctor aspirates weekly. He is making me be on bedrest basically, I am getting very frustrated and would like to heal and get my life back. I did have one injection on tetricycline to see if that would help scar it down which didn't make a difference. My doctor has said I may have to have a drain back in until no fluid remains but is afraid of infection. Do people just have to live with it and is it dangerous to just live with it?
thanks

I developed a seroma a week after my c-section. It scared me to death-I had no idea that it was a possibility! My doctor started packing the opening and I continued to have this unpacked and repacked every other day for 7 weeks. I had to change my padding every so often as well as the drainage continued but eventually lessend. I highly recommend the packing, this area must be open and able to have air to it as often as you can manage it. That was three years ago for me and I have had no problems with this area since then. I don't think I would have healed as well if we hadn't done the packing. It's an awful situation-just give it time and try to be patient. I hope this helps.

Had a tt last week - 23rd Feb 07 - feeling fine and moving around no problem - just concerned about a pocket forming right in the front of belly just above pubic line - spongy and almost pyramid shape! Could this be the start of seroma or liquid collection - drains came out yesterday (friday) Concerned ! :-(

iI had a tummy tuck about four months ago and has had alot of drainage , later found out I had a seroma two months after my surgery, and still struggling I am scared! I want this to be over. I went to another surgeon, and there is a an infection and will take care of it this wk, I pray to the lord every thing goes well. but it sure has been a struggle.

Hi , i had major tummy tuck after losing 6 stone. I had over a stone(18lb) of skin removed and no complications ie infection/blood clot/scarring. no post op pain relief either! (yes i am brave!!) am deleriously happy to be 'normal' in appearnace now. however, at 3 weeks post op, I noticed squishy feeling when laying down on one side. I went back to plastic surgeon (who is ace by the way) and they said it was fluid build up and needed aspiration. They took off over a pint the first time, half a pint the second time, a sixth of pint the third time (that one hurt) and last week another quarter of pint was drained. Well after reading some of your stories i feel lucky as it only been ten weeks and apart from the inconvenience and worry of infection its ok. i can still wear jeans and nice panties!! I can feel fluid again so will need doing next week. As you all , i was not told this can happen but hopefully it will stop soon? damn i hope so, my left side def more loose to look at than the right. still looks better than sack of skin on my thighs though. lol. anyway keep happy and positive guys. xxxx 8-|

I had an extended tummy tuck and liposuction 2 week ago. My swelling is extreme to me, since after surgery my tummy was flat but two days later swollen to appear pregnant. I started to worry that the swelling would never go away. Well, it's going down very slowly. However, my drains were removed after a week and one continues to drain. I am concerned that maybe there is fluid accumulation. And then today one of my sutures starts to drain the same material. Are these signs of seroma? Is this normal? How long does it take for the swelling to completly go away? After surgery I expected to look different. My doctor did lipo on my lumbar rolls, but they are still there, and in fact they seem bigger. Maybe I am rushing my results :'( ! Someone help my get through this please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i too had my surgery in november 07, and my upper tummy is bigger than before theoperation. it is v dep ressing and i cant buy any clothes as i had been hoping for. does this fluid ever go? has anyone had a second operation to remove the internatl scar tissue, which my doc tells me is causing the fluid layer to be contained.

I had a tummy tuck in Dec 07 and for three and a half months, I had a drain. I was told I was doing something wrong. Then when the drain came out, I found I had a seroma in the upper abdomen thus I had three aspirations amounting to 400 cc of serous fluid. Then, I got bloody fluid; was sent to have a CT scan and a radiology assisted drain placed. The doctor who did that was thrilled he got rid of the problem and took the drain out. Now I still have bloody drainage and every week I have aspiration of bloody fluid. I am now hurting and feeling full. I have the jiggles of the abdomen. I decided to trust the surgeon and go back to get this seroma removed. I loved the idea that it was my fault at first...I went to work too soon, I did too much, I did this or that. Facts are it was a complication. I have had my life on hold for six months. Now I am hoping I will be done with this. Never will I have plastic surgery again. But I do love the idea I dont have the fat apron.

I had a tummy tuck October 2007. Since than I have been dealing with a seroma in my upper abdomen the size of a orange it has been approx. 8 months. I had it aspirated in the Dr.'s office about twice a week. Finally the surgeon suggested I have the seroma removed at his expense. Since the surgery I had been getting worse. Two weeks post op I had a drain inserted through my navel. It was in a week than removed. Four days latter I developed an abcess where the seroma had been and I had to go back into surgery have the abcess drained and irrigated and another drain inserted. I have had it with the drains and infections. I agree it is very depressing and I feel like I'm going crazy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I have seen the last of this. If you don't feel all is well get a second opinion I did for fear of getting septic I went to my Internal medicine Dr. at 10 am one morning and I think the call he placed to my surgeon saying I had an abcess got his attention because I was back in surgery 2 hours later .

englandhv wrote:

Guest wrote:

so glad to have found this correspondence as like others, i was not told of the problem of seromas, only scarring and infections. at this point in time i just wish i had not had the surgery at all. i have the tearing feeling too, and also feel like i am going to burst out of my skin as the fliud builds up over the internvals between aspiration. it is all very depressing, isn't it? After two months, having had surgery in november 2007, i thought i would be wearing normal clothes, but i am still in jogging bottoms and look fatter than every. But is the total discomfort that is the worst thing.

i too had my surgery in november 07, and my upper tummy is bigger than before theoperation. it is v dep ressing and i cant buy any clothes as i had been hoping for. does this fluid ever go? has anyone had a second operation to remove the internatl scar tissue, which my doc tells me is causing the fluid layer to be contained.

I had a tt done on March 20, 2008. I developed a seroma a after the drains were removed (approximately 1 week I had them out) I developed a seroma. I had to have a drain put back in because they could not get any fluid out when they tried to aspirate. I have since had the second surgery to remove the seroma, and an additional cost to me of $1,500.00. I had my second surgery done on May 12, 2008 and I still have a drain, with about 75% cc drining in a 24 hour period. Is it possible to have a 2nd seroma? I don't know how much longer I can go through this. I am starting to have pain where the tube is and funning down my left leg. I have a doctors appt today and I want some answers. If not I will get a 2nd oppinion.

I had a large hernia operation in Feb 2008 and developed what I know now to be a seroma. Very Large swelling in lower abdomen and feels as hard and as heavy as a bowling ball. Very minor success when when needle used to drain over a pint of fluid but surgoen will not leave a drain in for fear of infection. Its appearance and affect on me are getting me down like other correspondants have said. :cry: