Taking Foods After Tummy Tuck Can Promote Faster Healing, Studies Reveal

It was announced by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery that holding the oral intake of foods after Abdominoplasty or tummy tuck won’t be necessary anymore. On the other hand, allowing these patients to eat earlier could be even lead to faster and quicker healing. A study investigating these matters was published in one of the issues of Aesthetic Surgery Journal.

The studies are very much essential since Abdominoplasty is one very popular cosmetic surgical procedure. It’s the fourth most popular surgical procedure in 2006. One of the most disagreeable experiences after surgery is nausea and vomiting. It can cause dehydration and retching and further, it will lead to very poor wound healing. The most common management of postoperative features are putting the patient on NPO until bowel has returned which means patients have to stay in the hospital for a longer period of time. But, there has been no literature that promotes this practice.

“This study demonstrates that early feeding of tummy tuck patients may prevent the need for postoperative hospital admission for intravenous hydration-at least in those patients who can maintain adequate hydration with oral intake alone-and allow for faster hospital discharge,” says Dr. Alan Matarasso, a plastic surgeon in New York and lead author of the study. “While there may be other reasons for admission, routine postoperative admission to prevent dehydration may not be necessary. These findings could change the way we care for our postoperative Abdominoplasty patients, improving their comfort and safety, and saving on health care costs.”

The study involved a comprehensive review of the medical records of 22 patients who have undergone the said procedure. They divided them into two groups. The first one did the traditional practice of holding foods. The second group was allowed to eat a regular diet right after the surgery. The rest of aspects remained the same.

“Although a number of Abdominoplasty are performed as outpatients, for those patients in whom it is deemed necessary, for safety reasons, to undergo the procedure in a hospital this paper demonstrates that early feeding of patients undergoing Abdominoplasty is possible. It does not diminish some of the benefits of postoperative hospital admission,” says Foad Nahai, the then president of ASAPS. “Achievement of adequate pain control, maintenance of a semi-flexed position, and patient and surgeon preference are important variables to consider when choosing between admission and discharge.”

“This is a very promising method,” says Dr. Sam Jejurikar from http://mytummytuckdallas.com/. “I want to try it sometimes but I doubt lots of doctors who are attached to the traditional methods will do it. But it’s a study with huge potential.”