Some of your concern may be swelling, you are only six weeks after tummy tuck surgery and swelling tends to go to the most dependent position. Also if you are wearing a binder, make sure it is constricting above the mons and creating the swelling below it. Unfortunately, it is also possible that overtime you find that the area was undertreated at the time of surgery, but I would not draw this conclusion for at least a few more months. (Vishnu Rumalla, MD, Dallas Plastic Surgeon)
Sometimes after a tummy tuck there is fullness in the mons. This can be from fat left behind, or bringing the muscles together down there and creating a ridge, or it can be from removing exces skin which was covering up a full mons all along. Time will halp reduce the swelling but some liposuction may also be good. (Richard P. Rand, MD, FACS, Seattle Plastic Surgeon)
The pubic area is typically “lifted” with a tummy tuck – this is a tummy tuck result that most women like and appreciate, but can be a surprise if you’re not expecting it. The area can look “larger” as well because typically the stomach area is tightened and the pubic ares is not and therefore sometimes that area can look “fatter” than before. It is not actually fatter, it is just now located next to an abdomen that is tight and flat and therefore it looks thicker.
This will “soften” with time a little. Sometimes patients will request some liposuction to that area after tummy tuck. I usually perform that at the same time as the initial procedure if I think that it is going to look “too big”. This is a decision for you and your surgeon to discuss in more detail. (Richard H. Fryer, MD, Salt Lake City Plastic Surgeon)
The Mons Pubis can increase in size after abdominoplasty. I have noticed that when I tighten the muscle layers above the mons, this pulls the fatty tissue of the mons together and causes them to bulge.
The sugery all by itself can also create swelling in this area. In most of my tummy tucks, mons reduction is a major part of the procedure. This usually involves removing the deep fat layer and liposuctioning the mons at the end of the surgery. The goal is to have a mons that is not prominent at the end of the procedure.
If you have a bulging mons 6 weeks after your tummy tuck, you may need additional liposuction to correct the fullness. (Daniel Reichner, MD, Newport Beach Plastic Surgeon)
This is quite common – often people having abdominoplasties have not seen their pubic region, either becaused it was covered by the excess skin or the stomach protruded and one just didn’t see it.
If it is troublesome, some liposuction can often solve the problem. (William B. Rosenblatt, MD, New York Plastic Surgeon)
In our pratice, we see patients who notice that their pubic area and mons loses its youthful look with pregnancy and time. What was once a vertically oriented mons is now more horizontally oriented and “down there.”
With an abdominoplasty, the mons area is raised and given a more vertical orientation. The mons is an area that can gather fat and occasionally we will liposuction the area at the time of abdominoplasty. For the patient that has a vastly prominent mons pubis, we find it best to address it as a separate procedure.
A mons-plasty is a procedure we developed to specifically address the prominent mons. Surgically reducing the size of the mons without affecting the sensation in the area is one of our goals.
We can accomplish that with a combination of liposuction of the mons as well as ctual tissue reduction of the mons pubis area. Patients are invariably satisfied, as a very prominent mons can be a source of embarassment in and out of clothes.
Our Wine Country practice allows us to see many plastic surgical patients from San Francisco, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties. The mons-plasty is one of many adjunct body contouring procedures we offer in our Santa Rosa office, including laser liposuction and labiaplasty. (Francisco Canales, MD, Santa Rosa Plastic Surgeon)
When tissue is removed from your abdomen, the upper skin is pulled down and the lower skin is pulled up. I account for this movement when I decide where to make the low incision within the Mons pubic. After six weeks the height of the pubic area is what you will see. You can correct this with waxing or laser hair removal.
More importantly, a well-placed tummy tuck scar should also be within your bikini line. If your mons is too high, so will the scar. Not much to do with that in the early post-operative period. (Robert M. Freund, MD, New York Plastic Surgeon)
What you are describing is common and will likely get much better with time. It is very common for the pubic area to get very swollen as gravity pushes the fluid into that location. The swelling can really only go down when you are laying flat on your back. As the swelling goes down, the scar will go lower, then it will look less bulky in general. (Julio Garcia, MD, Las Vegas Plastic Surgeon)
If the hair-bearing area is higher than pre-surgical then it is likely due to tension from the tummy tuck. To get it lower will require a revision in that area. Alternatively, you may want to consider laser hair removal. (Talmage J. Raine, MD, Chicago Plastic Surgeon)
The pubic region is an area that needs to be specifically addressed with a tummy tuck. Done well, the pubic region should be tight and flat without pubic hair extending inappropriately high. This requires lowering the scar significantly into the pubic hair for patients with significant skin laxity. This will allow it to be tightened without being lifted.
Pubic hair (and the scar immediately above it) should be low and easily covered by underwear.
The bulge in the area may have become more accentuated because the tissue above it changed so significantly. At the time of a tummy tuck, I prefer direct excision of this tissue. At this point, liposuction may be an excellent option.
One other possible cause of the bulge could be a seroma, which can occur in this location. Over time it can form a pseudocyst which is firm scar tissue surrounding the fluid. This is usually distinguishable on exam. (York Jay Yates, MD, Salt Lake City Plastic Surgeon)