Drains and recovery after tummy tuck
You might ask your surgeon about the progressive tenstion suture method, which greatly reduces the amount of time that drains are required.
I published a paper on this 10 years ago, in which I was able to reduce time for drains to about 2-3 days.
Other surgeons don’t use drains at all for abdominoplasties, but I still find them helpful for a couple of days.
If you have a job that doesn’t require lifting, you should be in good shape to return to work in 10 days. (Richard Baxter, MD, Seattle Plastic Surgeon)
Generally 10 days is enough time off after a tummy tuck
Most patients will have their drain out by 10 days especially if they have not experienced massive weight loss. These patients can drain longer. For most patients a 10 day time off from work would be adequate but you need to be careful not to lift heavy objects when you return. (Richard P. Rand, MD, FACS, Seattle Plastic Surgeon)
Downtime after a tummy tuck
Most of my patients no longer have drains 5-7 days after surgery, but other plastic surgeons leave them in longer. If you have a job that involves a lot of sitting, you should be fine to return to work in 10 days. You may notice that your stamina is diminished and that you fatigue easily; nonetheless, you should be able to make it through the day. More active jobs may pose some difficulty, as your strength and stamina will still be compromised.
If your job requires heavy lifting, you will not be allowed to perform that aspect of your job for at least six weeks after surgery. (Sam Jejurikar, MD, Dallas Plastic Surgeon)
Return to work after Tummy Tuck
Most of my patients have had their drains removed and are able to return to work by day ten after a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), but you should ask your surgeon for their advice based on what he/she plans to do to resolve your particular problem. Of course, this return to work is for sedentary jobs. Most patients do not resume heavier activities for up to 6 weeks. (Theodore Katz, MD, FACS, Philadelphia Plastic Surgeon)
Since the drains may have to stay in longer than 10 days you should probably arrange for more time off from work, just to be safe. You can always return sooner. You also don’t mention what kind of work you do. It’s no problem to sit at a desk but heavy duty work should be avoided. Don’t cheat yourself on convalescence, it’s very important. (Edmond A. Zingaro, MD, San Francisco Plastic Surgeon)
Time off work after tummy tuck
It depends. Sorry for equivocating, but there are variables in every operation. Most of the time, the drains and sutures are out by 10 days and patients are going about their everyday routines (with some handicap). If you have a desk job, I would permit you to return to work as soon as you felt comfortable (almost always by 10 days). If you worked in construction, the convalescence would be longer.
Now, some patients don’t recover as quickly as others. Returning to work might not be possible even in the absence of complications because they are slow to recover. This would be the exception.
There is always the possibility of complications. If these occur, any time table for recovery is changed. This should have been clarified by your surgeon. In general, however, for most jobs 10 days of convalescence after abdominoplasty is enough. (Vincent N. Zubowicz, MD, Atlanta Plastic Surgeon)