Bleeding after tummy tuck

Silicone sheets for healed scars

Use of silicone sheeting is for healed wounds. If your incisions are not fully healed or have opened up, you should stop using the sheeting until they are closed.

Advil may contibute to bleeding problems but I doubt if this is the reason why your scars started to bleed. (Robin T.W. Yuan, MD, Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon)

It’s probably the stitches and not the Advil

Stitches are foreign bodies that your body tries to get rid of by absorbing them or raising them to the surface. This is similar to what happens when you get a splinter that works its way to the surface of your skin.

Bleeding after tummy tuck surgery

Given the timing (6 weeks) it is likely that your body is in the process of absorbing your sutures which are usually gone completely by 3 months.

Sometimes the stitches don’t get completely absorbed and the partially decayed suture opens up on the surface of your skin causing the bleeding you are observing. Although the Advil is not causing the bleeding after tummy tuck, it can make it a little more difficult to stop once it occurs which it will. This is similar to nicking your face or legs while shaving on Advil. Bleeding after tummy tuck may be slightly prolonged.

Bleeding after tummy tuck advil

One exception to this is the use of permanent sutures, they can pop up on the surface many years later. I have also recommended that patients who use silicone skin strips to stop for a week or two to let the skin dry and thicken. Occasionally when skin is kept moist under the strip it becomes fragile and easily breaks down causing bleeding with the slightest of trauma. (Otto Joseph Placik, MD, Chicago Plastic Surgeon)

Stop the scar strips and the Advil

Beaches, It sounds like the scar strips are traumatizing your scar for whatever reason. Once traumatized and bleeding the Advil is prohibiting your blood from clotting quickly and prolonging it. Stop both and get in to see your surgeon. (Kenneth R. Francis, MD, Manhattan Plastic Surgeon)

Advil and bleeding after tummy tuck

The bleeding after tummy tuck

Advil is not likely to cause bleeding after tummy tuck this far out. (Steven Wallach, MD, Manhattan Plastic Surgeon)

Probably not Advil

You’re too far out from your surgery for it to be likely that the Advil caused your problem. It’s much more likely that you have a suture that hasn’t dissolved or some other (usually minor) healing problem. The important thing is to notify your surgeon and go in for an evaluation to be sure that nothing needs to be done, and get his/her recommendations on what to do, given their better understanding of how your surgery was performed. (Armando Soto, MD, FACS, Orlando Plastic Surgeon)

Sounds like you are spitting a stitch

It is very typical at 6 weeks after a tummy tuck to spit a stitch or two. The spitting stitch may appear as a little blister. The advil certainly stirs up bleeding after tummy tuck and can contribute to the spitting stitch. The silicone sheeting also does not help in this case. I advise stopping the sheeting and advil and go back to your doctor to rule out a spitting stitch. (Robert M. Freund, MD, New York Plastic Surgeon)

At 6 weeks Advil is probably OK

Delayed wound healing after a tummy tuck is occasional, but can be troublesome. Advil would not have been a good idea earlier on, but at 6 weeks is probably not contributing to the problem. One way or the other, you should be following up for any changes with your surgeon. We all do things differently and often base recommendations upon the status of the wound and knowledge of what we did for you in surgery. (John P. Di Saia, MD, Orange Plastic Surgeon)