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Abdominoplasty Surgery: 5 Tips To Speed Up Your Recovery

Abdominoplasty Surgery: 5 Tips To Speed Up Your Recovery

Abdominoplasty recovery doesn’t have to be an extremely long, painful process. While recovering from any surgery may not feel like a breeze, you can take some steps to support yourself as best as you can during your recovery and speed up the process.

So, how long is bed rest after abdominoplasty procedures? Is an abdominoplasty a hard recovery? The answer is, it really depends on the steps you take before and after your procedure to set yourself up for success. In this blog, we’ll give you our top five tips to having an efficient abdominoplasty recovery.

Listen to your surgeon!

Every patient will have a different procedure, as everyone has a unique shape and will need varying amounts of skin and fat pocket removal. So, recovery instructions can slightly differ per patient.

For a successful, speedy abdominoplasty recovery, you will need to closely follow your surgeon’s instructions that are tailored to your needs. You will have a consultation with your surgeon before your procedure, where you can talk about your ideal results and have your tummy area assessed to plan out the best procedure for you. Using the details of your procedure, information about your health and the details of your lifestyle, your surgeon will provide you with important recovery instructions.

If you’re ever unsure about something during your recovery, you should be able to contact your surgeon for advice. You should also have check-up appointments to monitor the progress of your healing and your results, during which you should listen to any further advice your surgeon gives you.

Prepare what you need ahead of time

During your recovery, you may need to take certain prescribed medications, like strong pain medication or antibiotics, and you will need some comfy clothing that won’t irritate the incision sites. You’ll also need access to healthy food, and a cosy place in your house to make sure that you will get sufficient rest and good sleep.

Ahead of time, you should fill any prescriptions you need, go through your clothing options to make sure that you have loose-fitting clothes (or purchase some), pre-prepare meals or organise a healthy food delivery service that you can use, and prepare a spot in your house with comfy pillows and blankets. Check with your surgeon to see if there’s anything else you may need to organise before your procedure date, so that you can relax and prioritise rest throughout your recovery.

Follow a healthy diet and stay hydrated

Taking care of yourself is important at any time, but it’s absolutely crucial after a surgical procedure. Abdominoplasty recovery really requires you to eat healthy, getting enough nutrients and energy that your body needs to heal. Equally important is hydration, so make sure that you’re drinking enough water while you rest.

If you’re not sure what exactly to eat, check out our abdominoplasty recovery food blog here. If you have any dietary requirements or health conditions that can be impacted by your food intake, we recommend to see a doctor or a dietician before your procedure, so that you can plan what to eat and drink to best support yourself as your body heals.

Limit exercise, particularly strenuous workouts

To allow your body to heal efficiently and avoid potential complications, you will need to avoid strenuous exercise and heavy lifting for the duration of time that your doctor recommends.

While following a good exercise routine is important in the long-run, both for your health and to maintain the results of your abdominoplasty surgery, don’t feel like you have to jump into your routine straight away. Rest is important after surgery, and overdoing the exercise can do your body more harm than good during an abdominoplasty recovery. Make sure you get personalised advice from your surgeon as to when you can resume certain activities.

Make sure you will have support

From picking you up after your surgery to helping out around the house, having someone to help you during your abdominoplasty recovery is quite important.

You will have limited mobility while you are recovering from your procedure, especially in the first few days that you get home. Tasks that involve overhead lifting, reaching or bending over can feel a little difficult. Having a family member, friend or carer with you or available to call for help when you need will be more helpful than you may think. Nobody can be back on their feet and completing household tasks as normal after surgery, so be patient with yourself and make sure that you have the help that you may need.

Get abdominoplasty recovery advice from Dr Yunaev at Breast & Body Clinic, Sydney

As an experienced, knowledgable and qualified surgeon, Dr Yunaev can provide thorough, personalised tummy tuck recovery advice during an in-person consultation at Sydney’s Breast & Body Clinic.

Listening to your concerns, answering your questions and creating an individualised procedure plan, Dr Yunaev can help you to feel prepared for your recovery.

Ready to book your consultation? Contact our friendly team today.

Have a question for Dr Yunaev on this procedure?

Your question will be answered within 24 hours by Dr Yunaev; a Specialist Breast and General Surgeon with extensive training and experience.


  • Abdominoplasty Surgery: 5 Tips To Speed Up Your Recovery
  • Abdominoplasty Surgery: 5 Tips To Speed Up Your Recovery
  • Abdominoplasty Surgery: 5 Tips To Speed Up Your Recovery
  • Abdominoplasty Surgery: 5 Tips To Speed Up Your Recovery

“My team and I are committed to tailoring a personalised approach to you and your concerns so that you may benefit from our expertise and we can meet your expectations.” Dr Michael Yunaev
MS (Breast Surgery), BreastSurgANZ Breast Fellow, Aesthetic Breast and Body Fellow, FRACS (General Surgery), MPH, BMedSc (Hons).

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